


Once Upon a Breakup

by anyothergirl415



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Geek Love, M/M, Minor Character Death, Minor Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-05
Updated: 2011-09-04
Packaged: 2017-10-26 23:55:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/289293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anyothergirl415/pseuds/anyothergirl415
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jensen would consider his life pretty magical, buried in fantasy and cookie dough, and free of the ex that was really no good for him. Everything was on the <i>right</i> track, which was probably why he suddenly had a Detective in his shop, guns waving in his face, and a whole mess of trouble he didn’t sign up for. Bloody Hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Lumos,” Jensen muttered as he hip-checked the bakery shop door open. When, unsurprisingly, the room failed to explode in magic light, Jensen merely grinned and used his elbow to hit the switch. He juggled the items in his hand as he navigated his way across black and white checkered floor, humming softly with a content air that could only come from someone without a care in the world.

Not that Jensen’s life was completely carefree or anything. No, he had a wide assortment of obligations, most important being the bakery that was his livelihood and one true passion. Outside reading, and geeking out over things that maybe the average twenty eight year old man shouldn’t find enjoyable.

Jensen wasn’t so much average.

What he was, though, was single. And right now? That was the best thing in the world. Because Jensen’s ex was a jackass. More than that, he was a good for nothing, ignorant, stuck up, douche bag. He was like, Lucius Malfoy. Or Wormtail. But not as bad as Barty Crouch Jr. because he’d never be quite cunning enough for that role.

There was the possibility that Jensen liked _Harry Potter_ a little too much. The whole point was, Jensen had recently _finally_ broken up with this stupid ass guy he wasted a few too many years on so he could handle all the stress of running his own business. Actually, he enjoyed it, just like he enjoyed being single.

Jensen went through his morning routine with a smile on his face, sorting out flours and sugars and all the ingredients needed for early morning baking. As far back as Jensen could remember he loved baking, cooking, fingers caked with dough and face smeared with frosting. It had started with his Grandma, summer afternoons spent cooking from the large family recipe book, firmly establishing the appreciation of something made by hand.

When kids in high school were going to parties and football games, Jensen was at home creating new recipes, listening to books on tape as he worked - _Harry Potter_ , clearly one of his favorites, as well as _Lord of the Rings_ and anything in the fantasy realm. Sure it didn’t win him a lot of popularity points but that was alright, Jensen didn’t care so much about friends back then, he had a whole world of imaginary beings to keep him company.

He supposed that was why his family seemed so shocked when he went into business school after he graduated. But Jensen had always had a plan. He learned how to run a successful business, created a small investment plan, and continued to bake. By the time he was handed his diploma he could proudly say he had a handful of real friends, a nearly full library, and a bakery all his own.

As it turned out, people were kind of crazy for Sweet Dreams, and Jensen couldn’t have been happier. He knew his world wasn’t ever going to be filled with magic and wizards and little half people traveling barefoot through extreme wilderness to destroy evil rings. But, he could be okay with bringing smiles to every single person who stepped into his shop.

Over the course of the six years Jensen had owned and operated Sweet Dreams he learned more lessons than he could count. And he got that damn boyfriend. But well, that was over with now, and Jensen could simply continue to smile as he lined the tray of PB&J muffins and slid it back into the glass case. The just rising sun was breaking through the front window, hitting a glass wind chime and casting a rainbow along the tiles. Jensen’s smile simply grew.

“You know boss, you’re a little _touched_ ,” the slightly harsh burr of Melodie’s early morning, coffee and cigarette voice followed her from the back room and Jensen grinned up at her, watching the predictable roll of her eyes. “It’s like, six am, you know that right?”

Laughing, Jensen turned back to the counter and grabbed the tray of chocolate, chocolate chip muffins - the often beloved Triple C’s - sorting through to ensure they all looked worthy of being sold to wide eyed, always eager boys and girls. Jensen wasn’t a writer, didn’t have that creative mind, but he liked to think selling sweets was his own way of spreading the world of fantasy and make believe. After all, who didn’t smile at the smell of something fresh coming from the oven?

“It’s seven thirty Mel, and just because I’m smiling at work doesn’t mean I have a mental issue.” Despite the girl’s tendency to never be on time, and her nearly constantly bitchy attitude, Jensen knew she loved the shop almost as much as him. He wouldn’t have allowed her to work there if he didn’t feel that. “Check the Reese’s cookies in oven three would you? They smell about done.”

Melodie blinked a few times then shook her head, turning to trudge back into the kitchen. “Use a timer, Jensen.”

Once more Jensen laughed, dipping into the glass case to line up the muffins.

So yeah, Jensen worked his ass off, often collapsed aching in bed at the end of the day - and he was always alone now when he did - but he was always happy. And that was really enough for Jensen.

Until, of course, he met Jared.

  


“Is this enough coins Mr. Jensen?”

It was impossible not to grin at the curious and excited little note to the girl’s voice and he dipped over the counter, pushing the coins along the surface. “Well, one shortcake cookie is seventy five cents.” Jensen paused, finger gliding over two quarters, a nickel and a penny. When he looked back up the girl’s smile had dimmed slightly.

Biting down on his lip, Jensen slowly nodded. “Yeah, Fiona, it’s enough. Don’t forget to eat an apple when you get home.”

“I never do.” Fiona beamed at him, snatching at the cookie as Jensen handed it over, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose in the next beat.

He was still watching the girl leave the shop with her bright smile and skip to her step when the next customer came forward, clearing his throat. “You can’t make much money here if you never charge the full price.”

Jensen may have lived an entire life buried in kitchens and behind pages of whatever his current novel of choice was but that didn’t stop him from knowing right away that this guy was someone important. Maybe it was the suit he was wearing, the way he was slicked back, but it was likely more the way he was holding himself. Even if he was remarkably tall he kept his shoulders straight, his chin up, confidence nearly oozing off him in waves.

So, Jensen continued staring a moment past too long before he shrugged, scooped the coins off the counter, and tossed them into the tip jar. “I think I can afford a few cents every now and then for a little girl who appreciates the finer tastes of pastries. What can I get you?”

The man’s gaze flickered for just a moment over to the glass case, a hint of a smile barely touching the edge of his lips, before Jensen was met with strong hazel eyes once more. “Actually, I need to speak with you. Jensen Ackles, right?”

Hesitating a beat, Jensen did a quick mental check to ensure he’d paid all his bills and this wasn’t some collector, before slowly nodding. “Yeah, that’s me.”

“Good. If you have a few minutes then, I’d like to ask you a couple of questions about an... acquaintance of yours. Owen Alexander.”

Ah, Owen. The dreaded ex. That one guy Jensen really wasn’t so sorry to see gone. Maybe the guy _was_ here as a collector, and Owen - in a final act of douchery - had sent him this way for money. Well, Jensen wasn’t about to get sucked down that path again. “Who are you? Owen and I aren’t, anything, anymore. Not even acquaintances.”

“Sorry, I should have introduced myself before.” This time that hint of a smile was a little stronger and the man dropped his gaze as if he was embarrassed by his mistake. But a heartbeat later he was back in that strong stance, smile gone, and he produced a business card from his jacket pocket as he spoke. “I’m Detective Jared Padalecki, with the RPD. Mr. Alexander is a person of interest in a case I’m looking into and I was hoping you might know of his current whereabouts.”

Mr. Strong and Confident was a fucking cop. For some reason Jensen was surprised, which didn’t make sense because now that he knew, it seemed plenty obvious. This guy was radiating with that weirdly self entitled air that someone with a badge seemed to carry.

Jensen listened to the clatter of pans echoing from the back for a moment - Melodie clearly a bit moody that she was stuck baking alone since Harrison called in for the day - before turning his attention to the Detective once more. “Why? What did he do?” Jensen scoffed and shook his head, turning from the Detective and moving to the back counter to gather more cookies. “Never mind, I don’t care. I don’t know where he is, and I don’t care about that either. So, sorry, can’t help.”

“Are you sure? Because if I find out you’re hiding or protecting him you could be charged as an accomplice after the fact, and that’s the last thing I’m sure you want.”

Jensen’s shoulders tensed and he slowly turned, finding Jared on the other side of the glass case, watching him with something far too close to suspicion. When a strand of hair fell into the Detective’s line of vision Jensen momentarily amused himself with the image of Severus Snape cornering a wide eyed Harry Potter, trying to be as intimidating as possible with a simple hard stare.

This man though, was much better looking than Severus Snape. Although, Jensen could find the appeal in Alan Rickman, if you were into the older man thing. If it came down to it, Jensen likely wouldn’t say no … oh, right, cop. “Look, you wanna ship Owen off to jail? Please, do. I can promise you I don’t have him hidden in my trunk or broom closet.”

Looking up, Jensen watched the flicker of confusion cross the Detective’s face and quickly pushed on, hoping not to draw quite as much attention to his supreme geek status. Not that he wasn’t proud of it. “And when you see him? Can you tell him he still owes me four hundred dollars and I hope his roomie in the slammer is big and beefy with a taste for moronic asshole?”

The following snort of laughter that fell from the Detective’s mouth was cut off only seconds after it began but Jensen couldn’t help grinning, turning back to grab a fresh tray of cookies and slip it into the case. He should definitely get magic kudo points for making the Detective’s cool exterior slip, for even a few moments.

“Well, alright. Seems to be a common feeling shared amongst Mr. Alexander’s associates. If you hear anything, or if he contacts you, please give me a call.”

Jensen watched the Detective place the card he’d still been holding on the case and step back. Then, as he half turned and the sunlight illuminated his long form, his hand lifted to sweep up through his hair. Something about the gesture made the air catch in Jensen’s lungs and he stepped forward as if pulled, lifting a cookie and holding it up. “Want a cookie? On the house.”

“Oh I shouldn-” As the man’s eyes widened slightly with something close to childlike excitement Jensen thought maybe he wouldn’t call him _Detective_ , not mentally. At that moment he seemed just like ... Jared. “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

This was kind of the part Jensen loved, watching someone take their first bite. As he knew, most people tended to underestimate how amazing a properly baked pastry could be. Jared took a small bite, like he was simply being polite in return for the free cookie, and Jensen grinned as those hazel eyes grew bigger by the moment. “White chocolate cranberry crunch. I hope you’re not allergic to nuts.”

That was probably something he should have asked first. No, Jensen wasn’t trying to be smooth.

“I’m not. And this, wow. It’s, really good.” Jared nodded, smiling slightly at Jensen as he took a bigger bite and stepped back. “I uh- well, let me know, if you hear from Mr. Alexander. And, thanks again.”

“Any time. But not always for free.” Jensen was _not_ flirting. He was happy being single. And he was never going to see this cop again, so, yeah.

Jared’s hand lifted in a half wave as he leaned against the door and it chimed as it swung open. As he turned and stepped outside Jensen watched him stuff the rest of the cookie into his mouth. The grin on Jensen’s face may have been a little bigger than normal, but he was always smiling, so that wasn’t so weird.

  


Though Jensen had accepted that he would never see Jared the Detective again, he still thought there was maybe something a little special about their encounter. Sure, Jared was currently the cop looking to arrest his dead beat ex - and maybe that was even part of the slight awe Jensen viewed the encounter with - but it still left Jensen tingling a bit. He always loved that about random meetings with people.

Sometimes it left Jensen’s skin tingling, like real life magic. At least, that’s what Jensen would call it. Even if he was okay with the being single thing and knew nothing would happen with Detective Jared Padalecki, he could appreciate a good first meeting. And maybe he kept seeing that little flash of smile, hearing the short echo of a laugh, like his mind was storming memories up for his own pensieve, something he’d go back and look upon for years to come.

Jensen decided that was what the encounter would be, a memory stored away, and he was perfectly okay with that.

He hummed as he pushed open the door to his apartment, once more juggling a collection of bags - this time his groceries - and already raising his foot to keep his dogs back. Only, his dogs weren’t there, yapping at his feet as they so often did upon every arrival home. That happy little bubble that sparked the tune on his lips burst and panic settled in the pit of Jensen’s sugar lined stomach.

“Merry? Pippin?” Jensen called out shakily, hoping the dogs were maybe just napping or something.

When no bark or scrapping of nails came in answer, Jensen dropped his bags and slapped at the hall light, already moving forward. If someone was in his apartment, if his dogs were hurt, Jensen wasn’t entirely sure what he would do. He wasn’t much of a fighter. But his eyes flickered to the Sting sword he’d purchased at a _Lord of the Rings_ con a few years back.

It was dull, but easily removed from the wall and Jensen could always, throw it at someone or something. So Jensen snagged it, gripping the handle hard and inching into the living room, wishing the light was closer.

He didn’t have to worry a moment later when the light across the room was suddenly on, illuminating his couch, chair, two dogs slumped on the fluffy red rug, and … Owen. Jensen’s jaw dropped, eyes wide as his gaze flickered over the image, heart skipping beats. “What- Holy- _Merlin’s beard_ Owen did you kill my dogs?”

There was quite the possibility that Jensen’s voice squeaked with his level of shock. That could also account for his near hyperventilation.

Owen rolled his eyes and stood and, for the first time, Jensen realized he was clutching some type of gun - Jensen couldn’t begin to guess what it was called. “Fuck, Jen, you really think I’d kill those damn mutts?”

Knowing his dogs were alive was enough to ease some of the tension crawling across Jensen’s shoulders, but only just. After his slightly hysterical reaction, he figured it was best to maintain some of his dignity so he folded his arms over his chest and straightened up, trying to be as strong and confident as the Detective from earlier - now would be a good time for the guy to randomly show up. “Well let’s see, you broke into my house, with a gun, and apparently knocked out my dogs. I’m kind of thinking you’re capable of just about anything.”

Owen groaned in that way he did whenever Jensen started talking about fantasies, or baking, or, well, anything for that matter. Owen wasn’t so much for communication. And really, Jensen seriously hadn’t missed this in the last few months. “Jen, Jen, Christ. You can’t just … look, chill out. I need- I just need your help. Alright? You’re a good guy, always have been, and I know you won’t just-”

“You _knocked out_ my dogs, Owen.” Jensen’s hand flared out to his dogs, fingers itching to move closer to check them out. But as long as Owen was waving around that weapon, Jensen wasn’t taking the risk. “And earlier, some cop came into my shop looking for you. This is _so_ not something I want to be involved in. You need to leave, right now.”

Quite suddenly Jensen found himself staring down the barrel of that gun he couldn’t name and his heart threatened to quit altogether. Jensen didn’t handle panic so well, and the light in Owen’s eyes was dangerously dark. “What the fuck did you say to him?” When Jensen’s eyes widened, Owen jerked the gun forward. “The cop! What did you say to the cop?”

Instinct - and too many movies - had Jensen lifting his hands in automatic surrender, the dull Sting blade clattering to the floor at his feet. “P-please, Owen. Bloody- Look. I didn’t say anything, I swear. I told him I had no idea where you were. You know I wouldn’t lie about this.”

“Nah, not even you are dumb enough to lie with a gun in your face.” Owen huffed out an agitated breath then his eyes wavered to the weapon, like he just realized what he was doing and how _bad_ it was. “Just, keep your mouth shut. If he comes back. Or else.”

Owen jerked the gun toward the two, now stirring, dogs then turned, leaving the apartment in several loud stomps of his boots and the slam of the door.

Jensen’s entire body was shaking and he stood frozen in spot for a long moment, eyes still owlishly wide and terrified. Then, something warm and wet was dragging over his hand and Jensen turned his eyes down, his knees finally giving in as he dropped to the floor. Maybe it was relief at seeing his dogs actually alive and moving, or maybe the paralyzing fear from staring at a gun wielded by his clearly insane ex-boyfriend.

“Oh god, oh god, I’m going to be sick,” Jensen muttered, turning into the thick fur of Merry’s coat.

It took an absurd amount of time for Jensen to work up enough energy to get off the floor and stumble to his bags in the hall. He’d at least managed to not get sick - and ensure his dogs were fine, his cat clearly in hiding somewhere - so Jensen figured he must not have completely lost his mind.

Cell phone in hand, Jensen stared at the business card for another long stretch of time. After all, Owen had quite thoroughly made his warning clear, or well, his gun had. But what choice did Jensen really have? If he called the Detective, he’d hunt down Owen, and whatever craziness his ex was trying to pull him into would be over.

Plus, his dogs had been injured. Maybe Owen still had a key - Jensen was going to have to get the locks changed - and next time his animals were sure to protect him, but just in case ... well, someone like Jared could surely help.

Jensen debated the choices - to call or not to call, that was the fitting question - and finally gave in when the his fluffy white kitty crawled onto his lap in the middle of the hall. “Hedwig, you’ll keep me safe, right?” Jensen asked quietly, fingers grazing through silky fur as his free hand hit send on his phone.

The cat simply meowed and curled in a ball on his thigh. Jensen rolled his eyes but smiled slightly, jumping a beat later when Jared’s clipped tone burst through the line. “Padalecki.”

“Owen was here.” The words burst out of Jensen, his mouth snapping shut after them. Maybe, he was a bit of an idiot sometimes.

The lingering shake in every inch of his body was likely what kept him from expanding more on his less than eloquent first line, so he simply forced himself through shaky breaths until Jared figured it out. It took a surprisingly short amount of time. “Jens- Mr. Ackles?”

“Yeah, Jensen. You can, that’s, it’s my name. So if you wanted to call me that- oh god.” Jensen sucked in a sharp breath as he was hit with another round of _holy fuck I just had a gun in my face._

“Shit,” Jared’s word was a whispered hiss and Jensen heard something clatter. “Jensen, I’m on my way. Are you alright? Is he there now? Should I send a uniform?”

“What?” Frowning, Jensen tried to figure out what that meant - the whole, sending a uniform thing - then gave up with the shake of his head. “He’s not here. Anymore. I mean, he was. He knocked out my dogs. And oh Merlin, he had a gun, and he put it in my face, and I think he was seriously gonna hurt me and-”

“Jensen? Take a breath, calm down for me, okay? I’m on my way, I’ll be there in ten minutes. He’s gone now right? Are your dogs okay?”

Talk about question overload. Jensen blinked a few times, fingers rubbing against his eyes, then Pippin was barking at the window and Jensen jumped up, sending Hedwig tumbling to the floor with a sharp meow. Jensen flinched but he was already moving to the window, trying to see if someone was outside - even if he was on the fifth floor. Maybe they were levitating or something. It could happen.

“Jensen? You still with me?”

“Just barely,” Jensen whispered, back pressed flat to the wall. He inched to the side and twitched his head around, peering out at the dark night. And, of course, nothing but thin air. For some reason he’d really expected a person hovering on a broomstick. Maybe he read too many books.

“Listen to me. Jensen? Are you listening?” Jared’s voice was surprisingly sharp, authoritative, and Jensen straightened back up. “I’ll be there in a matter of minutes. Until then, you have to stick with it, you’re safe now, right? He’s gone and you’re okay. That’s the most important thing.”

It sounded a little like Jared was trying to talk Jensen off the ledge of a building or something - or maybe away from the brink of panic, which was much more likely. It also sounded like Jared had a lot of experience with this type of breakdown. Jensen laughed weakly and sank down onto his ass, tilting his head toward Merry as he lapped along Jensen’s cheek. “He was waiting here, when I got home, just sitting in the dark with my dogs knocked out at his feet. Who the hell does that?”

Jensen could hear Jared’s exhale - wasn’t entirely sure if that was a good or bad thing - then the soft chime from the Detective’s car. “I’m heading up to your apartment now, meet me at the door alright? But don’t open it unless it’s me.”

“Okay,” Jensen whispered and forced himself to stand again, phone slowly dropping to the side after Jared had disconnected the line.

In the time it took for Jared to make it up to his floor, Jensen had to face the realization that his semi-panic attack and random call to a cop he didn’t know was kind of ridiculous. This was classic break down 101. Like, Frodo and the ring or Harry and a predestined battle against evil he never wanted.

Only, maybe not so extreme.

When Jared knocked on his front door, Jensen jumped and both dogs exploded into a round of barking, trying to get around Jensen’s legs as if they were overcompensating for their slip up with Owen earlier. Jensen bit his lip and pressed back at their heads, leaning forward to peer into the peep hole.

“Jensen? It’s Jared, you can let me in.” Through the hole, Jensen watched Jared fidget slightly, that cool exterior from before not quite in place. Long fingers slid through previously slicked back hair, twitched along the edge of his suit coat, thumbed over a light colored stain.

For some reason, each action was oddly comforting and Jensen smiled for a moment before stepping back, inching the door open to keep the dogs back and allow Jared entrance. “Hey, um, sorry. My dogs, they get excited easily.”

“No problem. I love dogs.” Jared smiled - not just the hint of one, like the brief glimpses Jensen had gotten earlier - and slid through the entry way, kneeling automatically to offer his hand out to the animals. Looking up at Jensen, his smile grew. “What’s their names?”

“That one, with dark patches, is Merry. The one who looks like he’s stuck his paw in an electrical circuit is Pippin.” Jensen couldn’t help returning the smile, after he flicked the lock on his door of course. “And Hedwig, my cat, she’s around somewhere. She’s a solitary being by nature.”

“Aren’t most cats?” Jared laughed, rubbing along the top of each dog’s head as they wiggled forward for attention. “So, _Lord of the Rings_ fan eh?”

Jensen bit his lip, surprised by the way his heart did a strange little flutter with Jared’s knowledge. It wasn’t like it mattered whether Jared got _it_ or not, this was all weirdly business or something, but it still was nice to not feel automatically judged. “Fantasy in general. I like _Harry Potter_ more, but um, _Lord of the Rings_ is really amazing too. The books are just, you know, harder to get through. I listened to them actually, on tape. Because when I bake and stuff I...”

Jared was standing by the time Jensen trailed off in his extreme rambling. The Detective had a slightly sympathetic smile, understanding eyes, and his hand lifted to curl fingers over Jensen’s shoulder. “How about we go sit down? Maybe have some water? You look a little shell shocked.”

“You think?” Jensen laughed weakly and allowed Jared to guide him to the living room, dropping almost thankfully down onto the couch. His head dropped to rest in his hands as the Detective fetched him a drink from the kitchen.

“Here,” Jared said after a few minutes and Jensen looked up to find a beer offered to him. “Seems like you might need one.”

Jensen huffed and nodded, grasping the beer and opening it gratefully. This was definitely a night for alcohol. He nearly drained the entire bottle in one go, oddly comforted just by having Jared there at his side. Even if Owen was stupid enough to come back now, at least he wouldn’t be the only one with a gun.

“So, want to start at the beginning? Tell me what happened?” Jared edged after a while, his fingers almost absently scratching through Merry’s fur.

It took a while to work up the energy to tell Jared exactly what had happened with Owen. After all, once upon a time, Jensen had truly cared for this man. Maybe even loved him a little. He’d known the man was a douche bag for a while now but he’d never considered him _cruel_. The idea that Owen could have so easily hurt him, _killed_ him, made Jensen feel like he’d missed some major piece of the puzzle.

Explaining the story made Jensen feel down right insane. Sure, he read hundreds - maybe thousands - of books where extreme things happened to the characters but that wasn’t Jensen’s life. This was like the very worst of any of those things that could have randomly happened to him.

“Man, why couldn’t I have suddenly developed Wizard powers or found a magic ring or something,” Jensen muttered as he finished, dropping the empty beer bottle on the coffee table and slumping back on the couch.

“Uh.” Jared stared for a moment then laughed softly, shaking his head. “Well, if I know my books correctly, Wizard powers and magic rings don’t exactly make things easier. Pretty sure Frodo had a tough go of it for a long while there.”

Jensen wet his lips and let his gaze settle on Jared, trying to determine if the man was placating him or actually not minding Jensen’s quirkiness. “You’re right. Still. At least Frodo had a Sam.”

“Well, you have me.” Jared shrugged and smiled down at his lap for a moment before clearing his throat and rolling his shoulders back. “So, even though Owen threatened you and your animals, you still called me. Why?”

“You’re looking for him. I figured, whatever the hell he did, it had to be pretty damn bad. He was out of his mind crazy. I thought maybe if I told you, you’d catch him, and then I wouldn’t have to worry about finding him waiting here in the dark again.” Jensen shuddered at that thought, arms folding over his chest. “Can you tell me? What he did?”

Jared frowned, shifting in place for a moment, and Jensen had to admit that he really did like the Detective more like this, less like the figurative Snape glowering in the bakery earlier that day. “Sorry, Jensen, I can’t really go into it right now. We’re not supposed to discuss open cases. But you’re right, it’s pretty damn bad. And I will catch him. He won’t be sneaking in here again.”

“Fair enough.” Jensen nodded slowly and smiled over at Jared. He’d really rather not know what Owen did anyway. It seemed like the less he knew, the safer he’d be or something. “Thanks for coming over. I feel a lot less like I’m going to have a panic attack now. So, that’s good.”

Laughing softly, Jared ran a hand up through his hair and shrugged. “I was on my way out of the office, so it wasn’t a big deal.”

“So, you’re done for the night then? You could have a beer if you wanted. I mean, if you’re off the clock.” Jensen tried his best to sound casual about the offer but he was pretty sure Jared could see right through it. The man was a Detective after all.

“Gotta drive home.” Jared grinned then pushed off the couch, heading for the kitchen. Apparently he must not have been planning to drive home too soon, because Jensen twisted around in time to watch him snag a beer from the fridge, then had to quickly turn back so Jared wouldn’t see the smile growing on his lips. “So, you’re a collector?”

Glancing up again, Jensen watched Jared’s eyes move over the random items on the walls - signed posters, various tokens from _Harry Potter_ and _Lord of the Rings_ conventions. It sort of cemented what Jared likely around knew, Jensen was a mega geek. At least all his photo op pictures were in a picture album on the shelf, the man wouldn’t have to know quite how deep the obsession was. “Yeah. I um, it’s fun, you know? The fantasy thing and baking, my two big loves. Well, outside my family and pets of course.”

“Of course.” Jared turned a grin on him once more, stooping down a moment later to pick up the forgotten Sting blade on the carpet. His finger traced along the dull blade, brows arching as he considered Jensen again. “Thought you might protect yourself with this?”

“Well you know, I could have like, chucked it at him. Didn’t matter what I had really, not even a real wand could have trumped a gun in my face. Though, maybe. I could have _avada kedavra_ ’d his ass but it wouldn’t have done much good.” A deep blush was growing on Jensen’s cheeks so he fidgeted with his glasses, wondering briefly if this was the part where Jared laughed and mocked him. Owen sure would have.

Not that they were the same person or anything. Far from it.

“Pretty sure you’ve got to have at least some magic power in you.” Jared chuckled softly but it didn’t sound teasing or hurtful and Jensen couldn’t help grinning. “So how old are you?”

“Oh uh, twenty eight. I know, lame that this is my place filled with all these things and I’m just some big geek who-”

“Not lame,” Jared interrupted, crossing back to the couch and dropping down beside Jensen. Maybe a little too close, considering Jared shifted a few inches away a moment later. “I think it’s good, to have hobbies, to be passionate about things. Like with your baking. One bite of that cookie and I could tell you poured your heart and soul into it. Not a lot of people have that drive for things.”

The blush on Jensen’s face was deepening but this time for an entirely different reason. Jared was making him feel all, warm and tingly inside. Like that magic power Jensen had felt before only better because it was something more. Chances were, Jensen shouldn’t be thinking about these types of things. Jared probably didn’t even _like_ men, let alone giant baking geeks. “Are you passionate about things?”

That was really not what Jensen meant to say, if he’d meant to say anything at all.

Jared slid his thumb over the condensation growing on the beer bottle, quiet for a few long minutes before he slowly nodded. “I think, to have my job and put your life on the line like that, you have to be somewhat passionate. I’m passionate about keeping people safe, putting bad people behind bars. That’s important to me. But it can also be one of the most frustrating things in the world.”

“Like when I have an idea for a new type of cookie but can’t seem to make the flavors balance out.” Jensen blinked and looked over at Jared, smiling sheepishly. “Or uh, maybe yours is a bit more serious.”

Jared’s laugh was deep and rich, rising up like an Elven song echoing through Mirkwood forest. Or maybe something a little less, out there. “Maybe a little more serious, but I can see how that would be frustrating. So can I ask you something?”

“If I can ask you things too. I should get to go first, since you’ve already asked me loads of things.” Jensen was practically beaming at Jared but who could blame him? There really was something amazing about good conversations with cute men. When Jared nodded with that same warm smile, Jensen was pretty sure the grin on his face grew to epic proportions. “Alright um, well let’s start easy. How old are you?”

“Twenty six.” Jared glanced his way, waiting a moment before chuckling again. “Is that it? Man, easiest interrogation ever.”

“Are you interrogated often?” Jensen smirked then shook his head, reaching out for Jared’s beer and taking a long drink. After the first swallow he slowly lowered the bottle, realizing it probably wasn’t so normal to drink a near strangers beer. “Uh, sorry.”  
“No big deal.” Jared shrugged, casual as could be, but Jensen could see the faintest coloring on his cheeks. It was oddly thrilling to know he could bring a blush to Jared’s cheeks. “Anyway, so I was wondering, what made you choose someone like Owen? I mean, I was looking at his rap sheet, it’s pretty extensive, and you... well, just doesn’t seem like you two have a lot in common.”

Jensen sighed softly, not all that surprised that the subject had come around to this. After all, Jared wasn’t the only one to ask why Jensen had chosen someone like Owen. It just, wasn’t always the easiest thing in the world to explain. Actually, Jensen would probably have an easier time teaching someone how to speak Elvish. Or Parseltongue. “It’s a long story. We had a few mutual friends, met at a party. I was young and he just seemed so… larger than life. We were friends for a while and then we just kind of slept together one night. Things escalated from there. Guess that’s the short version.”

"Were you two together long?" There was a lack of anything judgmental in Jared's tone and Jensen found himself sinking back in relief. He didn't really want Jared thinking he was totally batshit insane.

For some reason.

"On and off, about five years. Each time we broke up I said I wasn't going back down that path again with him but he kept pulling me in again. Like he was using some Unforgivable curse on me or something. Not this time though, we're done for good." Jensen smiled sheepishly up at Jared. "Outside tonight I haven't seen him for almost three months. He did a good job reminding me why I don't miss him."

Jared laughed around the mouth of his beer bottle, finishing the drink a beat later. "Can't imagine why. So you doing better now? Seems like your panic attack has been successfully derailed."

Jensen fleetingly wished that didn't sound so much like Jared preparing to leave but that was just silly. The detective probably had a million better places to spend his evening. "Yeah, definitely free of potentially losing it. Thanks again Jared, I really hope you track him down soon."

"I'll do my best." Jared nodded, rubbing his fingers into his thighs for a moment before pushing up to his feet. He reached out to ruffle the fur on Merry’s head then Pippin’s before turning his gaze to Jensen. "Well, you still have my number so if anything happens, don't hesitate to call. Though if it's a pressing emergency I'd definitely call 911 first, just tell them to notify me."

A weak laugh fell from Jensen's lips as he stood and fidgeted with his glasses. Maybe cause Jared's suddenly cop smooth attitude made him weirdly self conscious and oddly turned on. It was a kink he didn't realize he had. "Uh yeah, of course. You um, have a good night."

"Yeah Jensen, you too. Thanks for the beer."

With that Jensen was trailing after Jared to the front door, waving rather lamely as the man headed out into the hall. Jensen let his forehead hit the door as he turned the lock.

What a long and freaking weird day.

  


There was no reason Jensen’s life shouldn’t return to normal after the whole Owen breaking in, knocking out his dogs, late night visit/rescue from Jared thing. Or well, as normal as Jensen’s life ever went. Essentially it did. Jensen continued his baking - even creating a new recipe for peppermint ginger snaps that would be excellent come Christmas time - and his reading, naturally - reworking his way through some of his old favorites.

No matter how many times he looked over his shoulder or slowly edged his apartment door open, no one was waiting for him, so Jensen figured his trip into weird was over.

It was a little disappointing to think of never seeing Jared again but honestly, Jensen knew nothing about the man, and if he’d been interested at all he would have made _some_ indication surely. Jared seemed like the type strong enough to make his opinion known or something. Jensen might not always be the suavest person - and he was occasionally a social retard - but he was pretty sure he’d catch any signs that Jared was giving him _a look_.

Not that Jensen was looking for a relationship, he really was quite content being single. Really. Which was likely why it was so easy to simply settle back into his routine once more and go about his life.

Flour caked under his nails, dough smeared on his cheek, hands moisturized with a weird combination of eggs and butter, life as usual. And Jensen was heading out for a sandwich from his favorite deli down the street. Jensen was humming _Hedwig’s Theme_ as he soaked in sunshine and stretched out the cramped muscles in his arms and fingers, sometimes being a baker was tough work, in the best way.

The brick in the building beside Jensen exploded, little shards flying up and smacking Jensen in the arm. It was random and confusing enough for Jensen’s steps to draw to a stop, his head turning toward the second little _zing, whoosh_. It was kind of the way Jensen would imagine the sound of a magic spell flying past him, like he suddenly found himself in the middle of a Wizard war on the Hogwarts ground.

The third time it sounded, Jensen decided it was much less like a bullet going off and a _lot_ more like something he’d heard on TV. The brick beside him exploded in little shards again and Jensen frowned, turning in a circle again, eyes scanning around the street to try and pinpoint its location.

Once more, the exploding zing noise and this time Jensen didn’t have to look around. Or more like, he didn’t care about looking, because a sharp pain was slicing across his upper arm and Jensen suddenly knew exactly what was happening with startling clarity.

“What the fuck!” Jensen shouted, spinning in another circle before taking off at a full out run. Someone was shooting at him. Someone had _shot_ him, the bullet nicking along his arm in a stinging wake, and Jensen’s heart was racing at a speed that might literally kill him. “Oh Merlin’s beard, bloody hell, I’ve been shot, I’ve been shot!”

“Jensen!” Jared was suddenly there, seemingly appearing from nowhere, and strong arms were hooking around Jensen’s middle and dragging him down an ally, away from the main street and the still whizzing by bullets.

Jensen was quite possibly hyperventilating, staring wide eyed and flinching as Jared ducked around the alley edge and fired back toward the bullets starting point. Apparently, Jensen had somehow managed to find himself in the middle of an all out gun fight and he was pretty sure he’d accepted his life going back to relative normality.

Pain sank in above the panic once more and Jensen clutched his arm, sinking down to the ground. “Bloody hell, this can’t- no way, I did not just get shot, this doesn’t happen to me, what the _fuck_.”

“Jen? Jensen, take a deep breath, you’re fine. It’s barely a scratch. You need to stick with me, okay?” Jared’s voice was deep and soothing, a lot closer than Jensen expected, and he smiled softly when Jensen blinked owlishly up at him.

“You’re not firing back anymore,” Jensen whispered, gaze snapping to the street and back. If the shooter just randomly showed up there, Jensen was such a weakling, he’d probably pass out. Then, the idea of who exactly the shooter was hit Jensen and his heart skipped a beat once more. “Was that Owen? Oh fuck. Please say he wasn’t trying to kill me. Oh god, oh god, oh go-”

Jensen’s words were cut off by Jared’s lips suddenly pressing hard against his, the firm, slick, overheated pressure almost too much for Jensen’s already exploding senses. But it was definitely enough to effectively cease all temporary freaking out. Until the whole _kissing Jared_ thing truly sank in.

By that point Jared was already pulling back and Jensen wet his lips, blinking slowly up at the Detective. “I um, that how you calm down all people who’ve just been shot?”

“No, just seemed like a good method with you.” Jared laughed softly and tilted his head to the side. “My backup is out there, I’m sure they’ve got the guy by now. Come on, I can take you to the ER.”

“It’s just a scratch,” Jensen mumbled, finally turning his head down to peer at his arm. His t-shirt was ripped and there was blood, but nothing too bad. Whoever the shooter was, they were a horrible aim. Thank _Merlin_. “Where the hell did you come from anyway?”

“I apparated.” Jared was practically beaming at Jensen and well, Jensen couldn’t help returning the action. He was bound to enjoy a good _Harry Potter_ mention, even at the most inappropriate of times.

“I hope you’re not mocking me,” Jensen mumbled, still with the smile, and allowed Jared to pull him up to his feet. “That wasn’t Owen right? I mean, why would he want to kill me? What the hell did I do?”

Jared sighed and pushed a hand up through his hair, leaving the other still around Jensen’s forearm as something strong and reassuring. “You haven’t done anything Jensen. I’m not entirely sure who that was but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Owen. Maybe they just knew you were associated with him, maybe they were trying to get to him through you. That’s why I was keeping an eye on you, I thought … well, you might be more a part of this than you want to be.”

That didn’t really make much sense. The whole Jensen being a part of any of this. He definitely hadn’t done _anything_. He was just a baker, a geek, no one important. Certainly not important enough to be _shot_ at. “Damn Owen,” he groaned and half stepped into the heat of Jared’s body, trying to ignore the way he was still shaking slightly. “This, I guess means you haven’t tracked him down yet.”

“He’s doing a remarkable job at evading us,” Jared said softly and his hand moved up through Jensen’s hair, curling around the back of his neck and massaging softly. “Come on, let’s go back to your bakery. You got a band aid?”

“Yeah.” Jensen truthfully didn’t feel much like leaving the comfort of Jared’s warmth but he supposed he was bleeding, and they were just in some alley, and he’d just been _shot_. Fuck. He was not getting over that any time soon.

Jared led him out of the alley and back down the street, waiting until Jensen was pulling the bakery door open before explaining he’d be right back and jogging across to the back up unit gathered a block down. Jensen watched as Jared spoke with another set of cops before turning and heading inside. It was impossible to keep from creeping over to the back door, peeking into the kitchen to make sure he was alone.

Paranoid was likely to be his new default for a while but who could blame him?

By the time he managed to get a clean wet rag and a band aid Jared was back, smiling at Jensen’s reflection in the mirror and holding out his hand. “Here, let me help.”

Jensen turned and offered the rag and band aid to Jared, leaning back against the sink and rolling up his sleeve. The bleeding seemed to have mostly stopped on its own and Jensen was pretty sure he wouldn’t even have a scar except for the one implanted on his memory, because this wasn’t the type of thing he was likely to forget any time soon.

“Did they get the shooter?” Jensen asked quietly after a while, smiling softly as he watched Jared intently focused on making sure his arm was clean. Despite all the crazy shit happening, it was kind of really nice to feel so looked after.

“Yeah. He’s not talking at the moment but we’ll get to him.” Jared’s smile was just this side of menacing and Jensen swallowed thickly. He sure as hell wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of the Detective. “You feeling alright?”

“Mostly trying not to freak out.” Jensen sighed, wishing Jared’s warm fingers were back on him the moment he pulled away. “I was just starting to think my life was going back to normal again too. Guess I shouldn’t expect that.”

“Possibly not for a while.” Jared nodded and let the tips of his fingers sweep across Jensen’s brow before he stepped back slightly, leaning against the bathroom door frame. “You’re going to be okay though, I promise you that. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

For some reason, that really _was_ comforting and Jensen smiled at Jared, sliding past him to head back into the kitchen. “Thank you. Would you like something to eat? I just made a fresh batch of pumpkin pasties and-”

“Pumpkin pasties?” Jared’s brow rose incredulous and he grinned, stuffing his hands into his pockets, suddenly looking _much_ younger than the Detective he was. “Like, from _Harry Potter_?”

“Yeah, of course.” Jensen smiled, maybe just a little shy, and lifted his shoulder in a shrug. Before Jared could comment more he crossed the kitchen and slid the pastry from its tray, offering it out to Jared. “Least I can do, for saving my life.”

“Pretty sure I’m not supposed to take gifts for that kind of thing,” Jared mumbled but he took the pre-offered item and sniffed it, taking a large bite a moment later.

The way Jared’s eyes nearly rolled back into his head was completely worth every bad thing that had happened that afternoon - which were almost as numerous as the good at this point. “I won’t tell anyone,” he finally said softly and turned away.

If this was his life being not normal, Jensen supposed he could get used to it. At least the Jared part.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jensen would consider his life pretty magical, buried in fantasy and cookie dough, and free of the ex that was really no good for him. Everything was on the _right_ track, which was probably why he suddenly had a Detective in his shop, guns waving in his face, and a whole mess of trouble he didn’t sign up for. Bloody Hell.

Over the next couple of days Jensen’s neck started to ache from the number of times he looked over his shoulder but honestly, who could blame him? Surely even Harry and Frodo spent a fair amount of time looking back, waiting for the next bad guy to come around the corner. And both of them had these weird types of super powers - or well, Frodo had Sam and Jensen kind of had Jared but the Detective was far too elusive to be considered a trusted sidekick.

Plus, Jensen was pretty sure he’d get his ass kicked if Jared heard him mentally referring to him as a _sidekick_ but that might be beside the point.

Jensen was a little scared to fool himself into thinking nothing more would happen. He’d only heard from Jared once more after the whole ‘being grazed by a bullet’ thing, and that had been just long enough to ensure Jensen was alright and nothing more had happened. Jensen hadn’t been able to think of anything else to keep Jared on the phone though maybe he should have gone with - _oh hey, let’s talk about how you kissed me and we’re just pretending it didn’t happen_.

Life at the bakery was at least like normal. Melodie continued to slam around things like she didn’t know how _not_ to be pissed off, Harrison was there less than he was calling in sick, and Jenny - the older woman who worked part time more for fun than necessity - was as sweet and grandmotherly as always.

So, Jensen should stop looking over his shoulder. Two encounters of the wild and crazy, that was quota right?

Definitely.

Until of course the car down the street from him blew up.

Actually, it was Melodie’s car, but thankfully the girl wasn’t in it. Jensen had a habit, once a week on Thursday’s he would head down to _A Little Read_ and purchase a new book - if one caught his interest - but mainly spend the hours post work pursuing perusing each aisle. It didn’t matter how many times he did it, the books never got old, and to Jensen the adventure was better than a trip to a bar or dance club.

This Thursday, however, Jensen was running a little later than usual because Melodie had been throwing a fit about doing the final baking before closing. The only night Jensen left early was Thursday, and it had always been this way, but Melodie complained regardless. Usually Harrison was the one closing but he apparently had Swine flu or Bird flu or Mad Cow Disease, something like that, Jensen lost track of his excuses.

So Melodie was groaning about the baking work that was possible to do the night before and Jensen had to work his usually endless patience to stay calm with the girl. Seriously, he loved her to bits, but sometimes he just wanted to _Cruciatus_ her ass, or maybe just spike her favorite butterscotch brownie with a power laxative.

Anyway, Jensen was just stepping out of the shop, mumbling about how irritating Melodie truly could be, when suddenly something loud and nearly deafening echoed across the street. Instinct - and being shot at a few days before - had Jensen instantly dropping to his knees, his hands coming up to press hard down over his ears.

If Jensen had been a few minutes earlier, if he hadn’t been held up by his whiny employee, he would have been right next to that car when it blew up. _He_ would have been _blown up_.

Yeah, that was about enough to have the world tilting under his feet and his eyes closing from sheer mind meltdown.

Something cool was touching Jensen’s brow, smooth and soft, maybe even a little silky. Definitely wet. Jensen’s face scrunched up and he tried to place where the touch was coming from, not realizing until a moment later that he could just open his eyes and find out for himself. Only when he did, everything was blurry, and Jensen reached up to touch the lack of glasses on the bridge of his nose.

“ _Accio_ glasses,” he muttered, more out of habit than anything else. It was what he did first thing most mornings anyway, even if the thing he was laying on was cold and hard and definitely not his bed.

Then there was a soft laugh that was definitely familiar and everything came slamming back into Jensen’s mind with enough force to have him jolting up. The bickering with Melodie, the explosion of her car, the passing out in the middle of the sidewalk. And apparently that cool silky touch he’d woken up to was from Jared - more specifically, his tie sliding across Jensen’s cheek as he leaned over him.

That was when Jensen’s mind all caught up with what he knew so far and as far as explanations went, it was lacking a whole shit load. Jensen’s stomach churned unpleasantly and he blinked at the blurry image of the Detective who’d apparently come to his rescue yet again. “Merlin’s beard, someone tried to blow me up. I almost died. Again. What the fuck is happening to my life??”

Jared sighed and pressed the previously missing glasses into Jensen’s hand. “I’m pretty sure they think you know a whole lot more than what you do.”

Sliding the glasses on, Jensen couldn’t help groaning and slumping slightly into Jared’s side. It would sure be nice to see the man under some normal circumstances, Jensen was starting to think he had done something to offend some otherworldly being. “I don’t know anything,” he muttered unnecessarily - clearly, his lack of knowledge for these bad guys was known to Jared - and looked around at the flashing red and blue lights from an ambulance and several cop cars.

“Someone obviously thinks you do, and whatever they think it is, they really don’t want you sharing.” Jared brushed his fingers across Jensen’s temple, his smile small and sympathetic. “You’re okay though, might have a bump from the fall but otherwise, you’re good.”

“Minus being psychologically scarred,” Jensen huffed, trying not to tilt up into Jared’s too brief touch. At least the man could still manage to comfort him so easily. “No one else was hurt right? With the explosion?”

“No, thankfully no one was close-”

“Jensen!” Melodie’s shriek came from a group of cops down the sidewalk and a moment later she was breaking away and bolting toward him. At first Jensen was worried he was about to be yelled at - the girl’s car did just explode, after all - but when Melodie dropped to her knees in front of him, her eyes were wide and definitely freaked out. “Are you okay? No one will tell me what’s going on. Did you see what happened?”

Jensen bit his lip to keep from groaning. He wasn’t really in the mood to try and explain anything to his employee, especially if it meant keeping her mellow at the same time. Apparently, that must have been clear on Jensen’s face because Jared was reaching out to touch the girl’s arm in the next moment.

“Hey, Melodie right? I’m Detective Jared Padalecki, why don’t we go over here and chat a bit while the paramedics give Jensen a quick once over, just to be safe?”

There was no way Jensen was admitting to the pinch of jealousy he felt in his chest when Melodie was on the receiving end of Jared’s warm, comforting smile. For some reason Jensen thought he was different, that Jared was just being extra nice to him because he _liked_ him. Apparently, this was just Jared’s norm.

“Yeah, okay.” Melodie nodded, looking at Jensen a final time before allowing Jared to lead her off.

A moment later paramedics were coming over - following Jared’s gesture to go ahead and check him out - and Jensen didn’t bother trying to fight them. The sooner he got the all clear, the sooner he could get the hell out of there. He was so beyond _done_ with this entire situation, it was time to call Owen up and tell him to make all this stupid shit stop.

If that even worked.

It was a good forty minutes before Jensen was allowed to go. The paramedics had run plenty of blood pressure tests, strapping on a heart monitor, scanning every inch of him just to be on the safe side. Then Jensen had spoken with a few more cops to give his account of the situation and Jensen was really just trying not to watch Jared still talking to the occasionally flailing Melodie. Apparently, she was having a hard time adjusting to this new craziness.

So when Jensen was finally told he could go - that the cops would call him if need be - he didn’t even stop to see if his employee was alright before heading down the sidewalk. Yeah, maybe it was a little irresponsible of him, but there had to be some damn limit and Jensen had reached his and then some.

But Jensen had only made it a few blocks when the call of his name had him stopping. Or well, the voice calling his name, actually. Why did Jared have to be nice enough to notice him leaving? Jensen just kind of wanted to get over his maybe crush and get back to life as he knew it.

Which naturally didn’t explain why he was stopping for Jared, but he wasn’t all that surprised.

“Not even gonna say goodbye?” Jared asked softly and maybe his smile was a little self-conscious. It seemed a little out of place on Jared’s stern cop features and Jensen kind of wanted to wipe it away almost instantly.

“I think I need to lay down.” Jensen shrugged and rubbed along his arm, gaze moving along the emptying street. He should have checked on Melodie, made sure she had a way to get home, help her figure out what to do about her now destroyed car. Gaze settling on Jared again, Jensen swallowed thickly. “Is Mel okay? I feel- should I go back and check on her?”

“She’ll be okay,” Jared reassured and stepped forward, touching Jensen’s arm. “I’ve got her talking to a few associates of mine, they’ll help her out, give her a lift home. I’m assuming you don’t have a car.”

Jensen paled at just the thought. “Yeah. God. I mean, I’ve always been within walking distance of everywhere I need to go. Fuck. If I’d had one - oh Merlin, they _would_ have killed me.” Jensen dug a hand in his hair and blew out a shaky breath, pacing back and forth across the sidewalk. “I don’t understand this. Why do they want me dead? I- how will I even know I’m safe? How am I supposed to go home now?”

The idea of Jensen’s pets being at risk once more had Jensen turning toward his apartment building, starting off down the sidewalk once more. Jared jogged quickly to catch up to him, snagging his arm and holding him in place. “Hey, Jensen, I know you’re kind of freaking out but you’re a little all over the place. Let’s just, take a moment to talk about this.”

“Talk? Oh yeah, that will totally help.” Jensen huffed, feeding off the _crazy, insane_ of the last few days to keep from doing anything else. Like, think about the heat of Jared’s hand on his arm. His gaze narrowed on Jared but he kept walking, needing to check on his pets. “Why haven’t you caught the people behind this yet? Or Owen at least. What have you been doing?”

Jared frowned and dropped Jensen’s arm, shoulders tensing as his expression hardened. “I’m sorry, would you like to come try and do my job? Because it’s not all magic like you might think.”

Guilt fluttered through Jensen and he dropped his eyes, still continuing forward. “Yeah, sorry, I know. Just … this is really freaky Jared, and nothing like this has ever happened to me before. I’m just a baker. A geeky baker. Someone blew up a _car_ to try and kill me. How the hell am I supposed to get past that?”

“I promised you before that nothing would happen to you right? Maybe I underestimated before how much they wanted to get at you but I swear you’ll be safe now.” Jared’s expression had softened again, this time with an edge of determination that had Jensen’s steps slowing.

“Oh yeah? And how do you plan on doing that?” Jensen couldn’t help the skepticism. After all Jared may have shown up to save his ass a couple of times so far but he hadn’t been there _before_ and sheer dumb luck was really the only reason Jensen was still standing.

Just the hint of a smirk pulled at Jared’s lips and he bumped their shoulders together. “I’m moving in, roomie.”

This time, Jensen’s steps _did_ stop. Jared continued a few more paces ahead before turning around and Jensen stared at him, slack jawed. “Excuse me?”

“Seems like the only way to make sure no one can get at you is to be around you twenty four seven.” Jared’s smirk definitely grew, his hand lifting to tug at his tie. “So prepare to have a new twenty four seven personal Detective.”

Alright. It was one thing to crush on Jared, to want to see him and talk to him, and enjoy his touch. But it was _completely_ different to think of having Jared around him constantly until whatever the hell was going on stopped. Jensen thought of all his quirky habits that usually he kept hidden in relationships until many months had passed - like his favorite pair of fuzzy socks that happened to be bright pink and the pair of magic wand boxers he wore so much they were worn in the ass.

This was just … not happening.

“I don’t even know you.” Jensen kept blinking but Jared didn’t say anything more to change his mind. “You- you don’t know me. This is just, you’re kidding right? You can’t just move into my place. What about my work? What about my life?” Jensen didn’t have much of a life outside of the bakery but Jared didn’t really need to know that.

Finally the smirk on Jared’s lips faded and he shrugged, turning away and starting down the street once more. “Fine, if you don’t want it to be me, I’ll just assign someone else. They’ll have to walk in ahead of you, into any place you go, check around for anyone. They’ll drive you around and I guess sit in their car outside your building. You’ll just have to hope they can make it up to your unit before anything happens, if someone turns up in the middle of the night or something.”

“You- you’re just trying to freak me out,” Jensen nearly gasped the words, maybe a little shocked. Of course Jared was just playing it up, right? Because, it couldn’t really be that bad. But then, the way Jared was eyeing him now, Jensen wasn’t too sure. “Someone might break in during the middle of the night?”

Jared sighed and stopped again, reaching out to curl fingers over Jensen’s arm. “Jensen, I don’t have to tell you how serious this situation is right? You’ve had a gun in your face, been shot at, and had a car blown up feet from you. Whoever is doing this, it’s just getting more serious. I’m not willing to take that risk with your life, not having someone to watch your back twenty four seven, are you?”

It wasn’t like Jensen didn’t _know_ what had happened to him - he was already having nightmares from Owen and the being shot at thing, the car explosion thing was bound to join the mix - but having it laid out like that was kind of terrifying. Jensen could have sworn only a couple of weeks ago the most exciting thing to happen in his life was finding a good sale on cocoa from his overseas supplier. “You think … it’s only going to get worse?”

“I don’t know, Jensen. I wish I did, I wish I could give you answers to all the questions you have, but I can’t. What I _can_ do is be there for you. If you’d rather, I will call my department and have someone else come to watch over you, but they won’t be nearly as nice as me.” Jared grinned, dipping down so Jensen had no choice but to meet his gaze. “And definitely not as good looking as me.”

A blush crawled across Jensen’s cheeks - leave it to a Detective to have the sudden power of _legilimency_ \- and he rubbed along the back of his neck nervously. “I don’t have a guest room.”

“I can take the couch, no biggie.” Jared shrugged, turning away from Jensen. But not before Jensen could see the stain of color on his cheeks. What a concept, thinking of making the Detective blush.

“Well, alright,” Jensen finally gave in, mumbling the words as they once more headed down the sidewalk to Jensen’s place. Was it weird to be nervous about this entire thing? Jensen had never even had a one night stand, so he just wasn’t used to this whole, having a random stranger in his place thing.

At least Jared had already been there once. And he’d been really nice to his dogs, so Jensen didn’t have to worry about that too much. Everything else though? Yeah, definitely.

Teeth brushed, face washed, hair combed, PJ’s on. Jensen supposed there wasn’t much more he could do to continue avoiding the big glaring elephant in the room. Or well, the fucking hot ass Detective wearing a pair of his sweats and sitting on his couch in the living room. Jensen had caught just an inch of skin earlier as he untucked his shirt and had nearly thrown him up against a wall and gone down on the cop right then and there.

This might be Jensen’s own personal version of Azkaban. Less soul sucking but, whatever. It had to be some type of torture to have this gorgeous guy here and be painfully aware of all his own personal flaws that might keep Jared away.

So, what was the social norm when you had a cop crashing at your place to keep you from potentially being blown up or shot down? Were they supposed to hang out? Watch a movie and have some beers? Should Jensen make up a bed for him on the couch? Oh Merlin. Why couldn’t Jensen just be left an all-powerful ring that could literally make him invisible? That would have been so much easier.

When he stepped out into the living room it was to find Jared sitting on the couch, Merry and Pippin on either side of him, Hedwig perched behind him. Her white fluffy tail flicking along Jared’s jaw. Jensen wanted to scowl and call his pets traitors, only maybe he was mostly just jealous that they got to be all over Jared and he didn’t.

No, he didn’t want that. Of course not.

Maybe the sane thing to do was turn, head back into his room, grab his Kindle and lose himself in some good fics for a while. So naturally what he ended up doing was crossing the room and sinking down onto the free side of the couch, smiling briefly over at Jared before looking away.

“You don’t have any things,” Jensen pointed out, rather needlessly, considering Jared was borrowing his clothes and all. His sweat pants were just a little too small for Jared and they stretched rather indecently over the Detective’s thighs - Jensen was _so_ screwed.

“I’ll pick some up tomorrow.” Jared shrugged, apparently not bothered by the idea of sleeping in too tight sweat pants and his undershirt.

It must be kind of amazing to have that kind of confidence in yourself. Jensen shoved at his glasses, fiddled with his _One Ring to Rule Them All_ shirt, and tried not to twitch or something ridiculous like that. “Won’t your girlfriend be annoyed that you’re camping out at some geeky gay bakers place?”

No, it was not a not-so-subtle way of finding out if Jared was dating someone. He would have said _boyfriend_ but one kiss to stop a moment of panic didn’t necessarily make Jared gay, right? Totally.

Jared grinned at him - like he read right through Jensen’s motives or something - and slid a hand back through his now tousled hair. It seemed like that golden mane had two styles: perfectly slicked back and a complete wreck. Both were remarkably sexy. Jensen had a hair thing, apparently. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Boyfriend?” Jensen ventured, wondering fleetingly if his tone sounded a little too, hopeful.

“Jen,” Jared sighed softly then laughed, shaking his head. “Can I call you that? Anyway, I wouldn’t have kissed you if I was dating someone, no matter what freak out you were about to have. Just like I didn’t kiss Melodie during her mini-melt down.”

“Melodie didn’t almost get shot,” Jensen noted with a definite shy smile. “And you can call me Jen.”

“Well, I have a feeling _I_ would be shot if I just randomly kissed Melodie like that,” Jared laughed around the words, his head tipping back slightly as if the laugh just exploded from him.

Jensen was left simply watching, admiring the pull of muscles in Jared’s neck, the way his arms tightened involuntarily. Someone like Jared should not exist. He was far too hot for this world. “Why did you kiss me?” Jensen asked the question in a whisper, maybe because he didn’t really _plan_ on asking it. Though, he was curious, so that was something.

The laughter died on Jared’s lips and he let his gaze settle on Jensen, studying him with such intensity it was a little unnerving. It was kind of like being interrogated without words and Jensen suddenly had a whole new appreciation for Jared’s chosen profession. “Was it bad?” Jared finally asked, apparently going the route of not answering and being all intimidating.

Damn him. “It uh,” Jensen cleared his throat and shoved at the rim of his glasses once more, back sinking back into the couch then straightening. How did one go about answering a question like that without blatantly spitting out, _it was so fucking hot my lips are still tingling and it’s been days._ “It was … very good. Just, you didn’t say anything more about it and I um, you know. I mean, you know I’m gay. And all these other things about me. And I don’t know anything about you so just, yeah.”

“Oh.” Jared’s lips pursed and he finally looked away, reaching out to lay his hand on Jensen’s thigh and _hello_ heat. “I make you nervous. Sorry, sometimes it’s just a habit. Too many years doing this.”

That seemed a little unlikely, Jared was so young, how could he be hardened to a cop life already? But really, what did Jensen know about being a cop? Somehow he had a feeling it wasn’t much like being an Auror, considering Jared dealt day to day with bad guys, not just Voldemort breathing down their necks.

There was no way Jensen was saying any of that though. “It’s okay. You don’t- oh, alright, you kind of make me nervous but not because you _scare_ me or something. I just …” Jensen sighed, rubbing once more so hard at his neck it actually kind of hurt. He kept his gaze down on his legs - Jared’s hand still there on his thigh - and forced himself to continue on before this whole conversation could get out of hand. “I like you. Even though I hardly know you. You’re so sweet, and so good to me, and I can’t figure out if you maybe feel the same or-”

Apparently, Jensen didn’t have to worry so much. Because in the next moment his words were cut off by Jared’s lips were sealing over his. It was just as warm, smooth, silky soft as the kiss before only this time Jensen wasn’t freaking out about being nearly killed moments before - it had been long enough since the car explosion thing at least - and Jared didn’t pull away so quickly.

Merry was squished between them and after a moment he huffed and wiggled free, hopping off the couch and giving Jared the room to move forward. Long fingers threaded back over the curve of Jensen’s skull and Jared’s lips pressed harder against Jensen’s, their tongues sliding out to meet in a slow sweep. Jensen’s heart kick-started double time, his stomach rolling with the burst of pleasure that exploded through him.

Having Jared there, looking after him, suddenly seemed like the best idea _ever_. Surely, this was what real magic felt like, better than any kiss Jensen had ever experienced before. It was like his skin was tingling, like maybe if he felt like breaking the kiss and looking down - which he really didn’t - he would see sparks dancing across his fingertips.

When the kiss finally did break it was for a much needed breath of air but Jensen didn’t really have any time to ground himself, because Jared’s lips were sliding over his skin in the next moment and Jensen was seeing fucking _stars_. How the hell did one person have enough power to make him feel this way? Jensen was already painfully hard and breathless, his body curving into the heat of Jared’s because he _wanted_.

Then Jared’s lips were settling over that place on Jensen’s neck that made all his nerve endings fire off and Jensen suddenly wanted nothing more than Jared spreading him out and claiming him.

Of course, that would have to be about the time he tilted his head back and let out a slow moan of, “oh, _Sauron_.” And that had to be about the lamest thing he’d ever moaned during sex, like some demented form of a swear word that he honestly had never meant.

It kind of brought everything slamming back home for him and Jensen instantly tensed sliding up out of Jared’s grasp a moment later and standing. He was painfully - embarrassingly - aware of the way his sweats had to be tented up from his arousal and Jared had to think he was the most ridiculous person on the entire planet. Jensen had never been quite so ashamed of his supreme geek level before.

“Jen?” Jared was panting softly, his cheeks flushed, eyes dark and dilated. If Jensen had stopped long enough to _really_ look he probably would have noticed the way Jared’s too tight sweats were even tighter now but mostly, Jensen was well to the point of freaking out.

“M’sorry. God. _Bloody hell_. This is stupid. I’m stupid. I can’t- you don’t want this. Fuck. Sorry. Sorry, I’ve gotta...” Jensen gestured uselessly around his living room before spinning and crossing to his bedroom quickly.

When the door clicked shut behind him he sank gratefully back against it, inhaling shakily, hoping to get his heart back to a normal rate. Owen had always had such an issue with Jensen’s geekiness, he’d teased Jensen mercilessly about it, and Jared might seem like a good guy now but how much would he put up with? How long until Jared decided Jensen was too much of a freak for someone like him? A bad ass Detective with a reputation to keep.

Why in the world would he want Jensen?

“I’m an idiot,” Jensen mumbled and forced himself away from the door, flicking off his light and stumbling to the bed. The proper thing to do would have been to go back out and face Jared, apologize again, make sure he had enough things to stay comfortable during the night - or maybe tell him he should go ahead and get another cop to fucking babysit him.

But Jensen was honestly a little too afraid that Jared would already be gone so he stayed put, tucked himself under thick dark blankets, and tried to will away his arousal so he could find some sleep.

It took over an hour in the morning for Jensen to work up the courage to leave his bedroom. He’d slept horribly. Maybe because of everything that happened with Jared - the unspoken lame that Jensen had sent them tumbling into - or maybe it was because he was used to sharing his bed with two dogs and his cat and they were currently out there keeping Jared company. If Jared was still there of course.

So Jensen laid in bed, read - pretended to read, that is - and tried not to listen too intently for any sound of movement out in the living room. Finally, his stomach growling and his fingers twitching for coffee, became too much to ignore and well, Jensen did have to go to work soon.

He had a feeling Melodie wasn’t going to be showing up that morning, even if the shop did open later on Sunday mornings. And really, he wasn’t planning on holding it against her.

Once he was dressed - in a relatively normal pair of jeans and a Sirius Black t-shirt - and his hair appropriately styled, glasses in place, teeth brushed, Jensen stood at his door and once more summoned up the courage. The worst that could happen he figured was some mild awkwardness. Jared still technically had a job to do after all, so maybe he’d stick around long enough for Jensen’s new bodyguard to come along and that would be that.

It would be better in the long run anyway.

Taking a deep breath, Jensen steeled himself and slowly pulled the door open. Jared was still passed out on the couch, his arm and leg thrown over the side, Hedwig a white fluffy ball curled up on the middle of his chest. His hair was all over the place and at first Jensen couldn’t tear his eyes away because _Merlin’s beard_ Jared was fucking hot even when he was asleep.

It didn’t take Merry and Pippin long to realize he was there though and they hurried to his side, wagging their tails eagerly and nearly whimpering for their morning walk. Jensen tried his best to shush them as he crept across the apartment and hooked leashes to both collars, quickly tugging open the front door and slipping out into the hall.

Jensen was a little grateful for the reprieve from Jared’s breathtaking appearance and he lingered out in the front patch of grass for too long, looking around at the mild morning rush with a soft smile. It was easy, in such a peaceful time with the birds chirping and the sun shining, to pretend like there wasn’t some real serious threat lurking in the shadows, waiting for Jensen.

That thought alone though was enough to have him turning and heading back inside, unconsciously holding his breath until he was safely in his apartment once more. It was maybe a little stupid to go out there without Jared, who knew what kind of danger he was in and when it was going to happen again. What a shitty place to be stuck between - needing Jared there to protect him and wanting to avoid him because he kept doing stupid things like moaning fucking dark Lords names during foreplay.

“Morning.”

Jared was, of course, awake when Jensen stepped back into the living room. His hair was still all over the place, his cheeks were flushed with sleep - distinctly reminding Jensen of the night before and how Jared had been all glowing red after their make out session - and he looked oddly smaller shifting in place in his sleep clothes.

Jensen wanted to run and hide again almost as much as he wanted to cross to Jared and tug him close and kiss him again, morning breath be damned. In the end he didn’t do either of those things, which was probably good, and instead nodded and turned to the kitchen. “Morning.”

“You shouldn’t have gone out there alone,” Jared said quietly, sighing when Jensen shot him a look. “Just, I’m trying to keep you safe okay? So even though it’s early and it was just out front, going without me is against the rules now. Alright?”

It was impossible not to get a little annoyed at the lecture but he didn’t try to fight it. Way too early for that and well, there was still that weird tension between them. So Jensen nodded and turned away, heading across the kitchen. “Yeah, okay, got it. You um, want some coffee? I have some sweet rolls left over from yesterday too, or I could make an omelet or hash brown-”

“What did I do wrong?” Jared’s voice was remarkably close, startling Jensen enough to have him jumping as he reached out for his Keurig coffee machine.

Swallowing thickly, Jensen braced himself for the encounter then slowly turned, tilting his gaze up toward Jared. There was something remarkably sad behind the Detective’s gaze, enough to make Jensen’s breath hitch. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” Jensen laughed nervously and forced his gaze away. “Trust me. Far from it.”  
“Then … what happened? Because, it seemed like you liked it. And I really did. Then suddenly you were just, running away from me.” Jared smiled, weakly, and turned to lean back against the counter. His fingers stroked absently through Pippin’s fur, his gaze turned down in that sweet, shy little way that he seemed unable to help.

Why did he have to be so amazing like that? Because it was just so endearing and cute and Jensen felt like an ass for walking away like he had, for freaking out. Only, the point was that Jared _was_ all of these things. And Jensen was just … weird. “I moaned a fictional characters name as like, an alternative for _fuck_. That doesn’t bother you at all?”

Jared chuckled quietly and met Jensen’s gaze again, his arms folding over his chest. “I actually thought it was cute.” When Jared reached out he seemed just slightly hesitant but, when Jensen didn’t turn away, his fingers curled and slid down over Jensen’s jaw in a nothing but tender caress. “You were embarrassed?”

Jensen flushed at being called out on the truth, dipping his head down, tilting just slightly into the touch as he exhaled. “Owen used to tease me so much when I did things like that. Why would you want to be with such a … geek?”

“Owen is a douche bag,” Jared grunted and stepped closer, their sides pressing together. “Jensen, if it hasn’t gotten through to you yet, I _really_ fucking like you. And maybe you haven’t noticed but, I’m pretty up on the geek thing myself. I’ve read _Harry Potter_ and _Lord of the Rings_ , I’ve seen the movies. Hell, I looked at your books last night, I’ve read more than half of them.”

Jensen blinked owlishly up at Jared, not sure he could really believe him. Jared was so … _cool_ , Jensen just couldn’t imagine him being into stuff like that. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he tried to wrap his mind around the very idea. “But... really?”

“What? Just because I’m a cop I can’t be a geek?” Jared grinned and laughed, stepping impossibly closer. “Is there some unwritten rule that only bakers can be geeks?”

“N-no,” Jensen whispered, suddenly very, very aware of how close Jared was to him. Yeah. They kept getting into these situations now it seemed. Jared was either saving his life or blowing his mind, maybe Jensen actually needed protecting from _him_.

Jensen watched as Jared wet his lips, inching closer, that grin fading to something warm and soft and so oddly gentle. The tip of his thumb stroked slowly over Jensen’s chin and he sighed softly. “I really don’t mind that you’re a bit geeky, you know that right? It’s … endearing. And it’s actually pretty cool too. I kind of love seeing someone so passionate about something. It means a lot to me.”

“But you don’t know anything about me,” Jensen whispered, unable to make his voice any louder when Jared was just kind of right _there_. His breath was coming maybe a little faster and Jared’s body was radiating heat. How was Jensen already about to lose his mind?

“I know the things that matter,” Jared breathed, his fingers running up to slide through Jensen’s hair. “Everything else I can learn. If you’ll let me.”

It didn't make sense to Jensen, why Jared would even _want_ to take a shot with him. But he sure as hell wasn't an idiot. This was like being offered the House Cup and all he had to do was make out with some hot ass guy to get the grand prize.

Easiest task ever.

So Jensen pushed forward and slanted his lips over the Detective's. It was oddly better than the night before, not nearly as rushed, and Jensen allowed himself to sink into the heat of Jared's body. Strong arms wrapped around his shoulders, slid down to his waist, and pulled him close as their tongues slipped out and danced slowly together as if they were already familiar with the touch.

With Owen things had definitely gotten stale in their sex life. The man was all rough edges with no finesse, often too rough with not nearly enough foreplay for Jensen’s liking. Jensen honestly enjoyed it a little rough - done the right way of course - but he certainly preferred the way Jared manhandled him onto the counter as opposed to Owen not prepping him enough. It shouldn’t really have been that big of a shocker that Jared was remarkably good at this type of thing as well.

Long, smooth, overheated fingers slipped under Jensen’s shirt and danced across his middle, causing Jensen to squirm on the counter and wrap his legs around Jared’s body. The Detective was pressed flushed to him and Jensen’s already half hard cock thickened, straining against his jeans as Jensen writhed a little closer, sought out more friction.

When he broke the kiss with a gasped moan, Jared’s lips once more descended across his skin and Jensen let his head fall back to hit the cabinet door. Jared’s fingertips were tracing meaningless patterns across his back and Jensen was already panting, his vision blurring, the pleasure building and sharpening.

“Jared,” Jensen moaned and finally gave in to the desire to tangle his fingers in Jared’s hair. He’d secretly wanted to do that from the very day he met the man, who could blame him? Jared’s hair was fucking sexy.

“Let me,” Jared whispered in return and his hands slid back around to Jensen’s front, fingers grazing with enough purpose over Jensen’s crotch, there was no denying what the man wanted to do.

Jensen blinked bleary eyed at Jared as he pulled back slightly, giving him a questioning, shy little smile. Talk about a walking contradiction, what with Jared’s lust dark eyes and swollen lips that made him look positively sinful. “Bedroom,” Jensen finally murmured, eyes growing wider when Jared stepped forward and literally scooped him off the counter.

There was no choice but to tighten his legs around Jared’s middle, arms wrapping over his shoulders. It might have been a little scary how easily Jared could carry him but mostly it was just hot so Jensen wasn’t complaining. And Jared even continued to kiss him, their lips sliding hard and deep together, tongues tangling as Jensen’s fingers weaved up into that deliciously silk hair.

It was already some type of perfection that Jensen wasn’t prepared for and his heart was racing hard in his chest, his hips swiveling hard forward to relieve some of the ache building in him. Jared nearly stumbled into the bedroom – Merry hovering under his feet almost causing him to trip – and Jensen had just a moment to brace himself before they were collapsing onto the bed.

All the air rushed out of Jensen in a hushed _oomph_ that instantly had Jared pushing up on his hands, staring down at Jensen with wide eyes. “Oh shit, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

It took Jensen a moment to realize the Detective was actually embarrassed, which was just damn adorable and Jensen couldn’t help grinning up at him. “Just ‘cause I’m a geeky baker does _not_ mean I am a weakling. Can handle you pushing me around a little bit, you know?”

“Mm, good to know.” Jared smirked for a beat then dipped down, capturing Jensen’s lips in another hard kiss.

Their hands fumbled over clothing as they twisted together on the bed, moving up along the blankets until they could both spread out. Their lips only broke long enough to remove both shirts then Jensen was trying to breathe through the sudden heat of Jared’s chest pressing down against his, burning hot skin rippling out in waves of pleasure through every inch of Jensen.

He got lost in the way Jared’s lips felt against his, the breathy moans falling between them, the constant heat making his mind spin. So when, what seemed out of nowhere, Jared’s fingers were wrapping around his achingly hard cock, he nearly called out as he lurched off the bed. Jensen’s lips jerked from Jared’s, his head pressing back into the pillow, hips arching up into the smooth stroke. “Oh Merlin’s beard.”

It was almost enough to pull him from the moment again – just like the night before and that incredible lameness – but Jared didn’t let him get that far. Instead he sucked on a patch of skin just below Jensen’s ear, bringing a strangled gasp from the man’s lips as he continued to writhe and twist.

Everything about Jared’s strokes now oozed confidence, the slight squeeze, the twist and pull and Jensen couldn’t manage to catch his breath. His fingers curled and nails dragged up Jared’s back, eyes fluttering open and closed. “Jared,” he gasped, forcing his gaze to settle on his new lover’s. “Please. Want- wanna touch you.”

“Fuck,” Jared whispered, tongue dragging across his lips before he nodded and released his hold on Jensen, falling back onto the bed.

Jensen could merely watch as Jared lifted his hips and shoved the definitely too tight sweats down, kicking them off the edge of the bed and turning back. Jensen squirmed the rest of the way out of his jeans and boxers and rolled to face Jared, his breathing a little more under control now that those hypnotic hands were off him.

Of course, then Jared was reaching out and touching his hip again and Jensen was jerking toward that heat almost automatically. Their eyes met and locked as their fingers traced in a mirror image over each other’s bodies. It probably should have been weird – Jensen had never just stared into a man’s eyes while he jacked him off – but all it seemed to be doing was making Jensen feel a little more out of control.

Like just looking at Jared was enough to give him some out of body, over sex crazed complex. No logic, that was alright.

“You make me feel, so much. Too much,” Jensen whispered, shaking his head because he wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to be talking right now but he didn’t seem to be able to control himself.

Jared gave him a brief smile then dipped forward, nose sliding over Jensen’s jaw, fingers once more curling around his cock. “I know the feeling,” Jared whispered against his ear and caught the fleshy lobe between his teeth, pulling out at the same time his fingers stroked slow over Jensen’s cock.

A gasp fell from Jensen, his hips thrusting forward into the touch, fingers curling to wrap around Jared and repeat the touch. Sex wasn’t something he was unsure about, he’d been with a couple of people and felt he was pretty good at the whole … thing. But sex with Jared was turning out to be insane on a completely different level and Jensen wasn’t sure he really would be enough to prove to the Detective that it was worth all the other craziness.

“I can hear you thinking,” Jared breathed with a soft chuckle, his own hips undulating forward, up into Jensen’s strokes. “Just enjoy it, savor it. Let me have all of you right now and think later.”

It was on the tip of Jensen’s tongue to tell Jared he probably really didn’t want _all_ of him but managing any actual protesting when Jared’s fingers were picking up speed over his cock was kind of impossible. So he did as was asked of him, shut down his brain and focused all his energy instead on matching each stroke twist squeeze.

The pleasure was building up in Jensen and it didn’t take long to feel like he was reaching the point that would tip him over the edge. Jared was panting against his cheek, their lips occasionally coming together in slow brushes, their cocks meeting with rubs and slides whenever their hips thrust against each other.

“ _Aglar_ ,” Jensen gasped, the pleasure reaching such a point he wasn’t entire aware of what he was saying. Or the fact that he was sprouting out random Elvish words that had worked their way into his vocabulary. “Oh _menel_ , Jared.”

Then Jared was tensing against him, his fingers twist squeezing then pausing as the hot splash of come fell between them. Jensen forced his eyes open, watching the pleasure paint and stain across Jared’s features. His eyes were half lidded, his skin completely flushed, and his lips were parted around the soft moan that fell from him.

That was enough for Jensen. The pleasure exploded low in the pit of his stomach and his hips thrust into the still heat of Jared’s hand. For a moment Jensen’s vision blurred, a shudder working its way through him from head to toe. All the air caught in Jensen’s lungs before he sucked in a greedy breath, body slumping against Jared’s.

They laid in silence against each other, hands slowly wiping along blankets before coming to ghost over arms and sides. Jensen was pretty sure he’d never had such an intense orgasm from just a hand job, which was kind of amazing.

“What did you say?” Jared asked countless minutes later, once Jensen had tucked into his side and Jared’s fingers stroked slowly through his hair.

It took Jensen a few moments to figure out what his lover was talking about. When he did he flushed and dipped his head down, resting against Jared’s shoulder. “Oh uh … it was Elvish.”

“You speak Elvish?” Jared asked with a faint laugh but he also sounded kind of impressed, so it couldn’t be all bad.

Jensen huffed and traced his fingers down Jared’s chest. “Not like, fluently or anything. I just know some random words. Just be glad I didn’t try man hand at parseltongue or something.”

This time Jared laughed louder and bumped at Jensen, twisting and pulling him up until their lips could meet. “I’m really glad you didn’t. Hissing at me? Yeah, weird.”

Jensen’s face scrunched up but he smiled into the kiss, brushing his fingers through Jared’s hair. His heart fluttered as his nose brushed against Jared’s. “This isn’t illegal right? I mean, are there rules against you being with me.”

“Well um.” Jared laughed, a little nervously, and shook his head. “Okay, maybe a little. But, _technically_ , Owen is the person I’m investigating; you’re just tangled up in this mess against your control. Basically, as long as we don’t make out in my office, we should be good.”

Jensen had never really done anything illegal, so even if Jared said this wasn’t _technically_ , it was pretty thrilling. He grinned and pressed a little closer, flattening his hand on Jared’s back. “I feel like such a rebel.”

Jared snorted a laugh and dipped in for another kiss. “Careful, might have to use my handcuffs on you.”

Oh. Now that was a thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jensen would consider his life pretty magical, buried in fantasy and cookie dough, and free of the ex that was really no good for him. Everything was on the _right_ track, which was probably why he suddenly had a Detective in his shop, guns waving in his face, and a whole mess of trouble he didn’t sign up for. Bloody Hell.

There was the distinct possibility that Melodie was trying to kill him through a glare. That might likely be due to the fact that Jensen had graduated from humming Hedwig’s Theme to full out whistling. But he was in a good mood, and it wasn’t _technically_ his fault the girl’s car had been blown up, so she could just take her glare elsewhere and get over it.

If Jared would hurry back, things would get better. After all, Melodie seemed to be just as much a sucker for the Detective’s puppy dog eyes as Jensen was. They’d spent most of Sunday morning in bed before Jensen finally insisted they get to his shop and do some actual work. It hadn’t mattered that his employees didn’t show up because Jensen made Jared do some baking – and this way they were allowed to stop and share a series of deep kisses whenever they wanted.

They shared a great dinner – which Jensen happily cooked, enjoying making meals for two once again – and the second night Jared stayed in his place it didn’t matter about tight clothes or a too small couch. No, it was much better to simply roll naked together in Jensen’s giant bed, which probably accounted for Jensen’s current whistling.

That morning Jensen hadn’t allowed them to lounge around in bed – no matter how much Jared tried to hold him there pinned on the mattress. He still had a business to run, and just because he was enjoying this new whirlwind romance, he couldn’t slack off. Though, he did _own_ the bakery, technically he should be allowed to do whatever the hell he wanted.

Or so Jared said.

Jensen had finally just told Jared to meet him at the bakery after he dropped by work – which was apparently important – and picked up a bag of things. After all, it was six in the morning, who was going to attack him _then_?

It had taken a fair bit longer to convince Jared of this logic. _Jensen, just come by work with me, it won’t take long, you won’t be too late._ But Jensen wasn’t about to let this whole stupid situation keep him from his normal life. A couple of hours at the bakery, where he promised Jared he would stay with the back door locked and wouldn’t open the front until Melodie came in, and Jared would be there before nine.

It all seemed fine to Jensen, he maybe should have known better.

Fast forward to now, a quarter to nine, and Melodie scowling the louder and faster his whistling grew.

“So what? He fuck you then?” She finally asked with a huff and maybe she was just a little put out that Jared turned out to be a flaming queer.

Jensen sighed but even Melodie's clear irritation couldn't bring down Jensen's good mood. " _Not_ that it's any of your business but no, he didn't. I enjoy taking my time with new relationships."

"You're just paranoid that you'll end up with another psycho ex who blows up cars." Melodie shuddered and Jensen couldn't help wincing in sympathy.

In all the excitement with Jared he'd kind of forgotten how the girl was affected by Owen's stupidity. "Listen Mel, I'm really sorry you got dragged into all-”

"Jensen," Melodie interrupted him with a sigh, shaking her head. "It's not your fault. The cops have helped me with claim stuff; my car was a piece of shit. So now I get a rental car for a while and it's all, good."

It was just like the girl to shrug it all off and Jensen didn't try and push it further. Maybe he'd buy her a book or something - maybe flowers, last time he'd gotten her a book she'd laughed at him for a while before giving it back. Granted it was _Harry Potter_ but what had she expected?

Anyway. Jensen let the subject slide and grabbed the large bag of trash to dump out back – a habit so second nature he didn’t even stop to think, _this isn’t keeping the back door locked_ – giving Melodie a warm smile mostly because he knew it would irritate her even further. It was occasionally remarkably fun to mess with the girl.

The whistling continued as Jensen hip checked the back door open and headed out into the alley, swinging the trash up and tossing it effortlessly into the dumpster. It was actually kind of nice to know that, even though he was quite content a week or so ago being single, he was also _very_ content to have someone in his life again. Jensen had high hopes for himself and Jared, once this whole Owen situation blew over.

Speaking of.

“Hey Jensen.”

The smile on Owen’s face was maybe a little sheepish, thrown off by the cut on his lip and the dark black ring surrounding his eye. Jensen was frozen in spot, staring at his ex with a mixture of very strong emotions. For one, he was irritated the man was there, irritated just _knowing_ the man had put his life at risk so many times recently, but then, without all of that, Jensen never would have met Jared. He couldn’t help but feel a little grateful for that.

Until, of course, a wide firm hand landed solid on his shoulder with enough force his knees gave slightly. Jensen’s gaze whipped to this side, eyes widening at the big, burly, bald man scowling at him. “You’ve got something we want.”

“Wha-” Jensen didn’t get a chance to correct them or ask any questions. The man swiftly lifted his free hand and a rag was placed over Jensen’s mouth. It only took moments for Jensen’s world to pass out but he was left with the resounding thought of _bloody hell._

  


“Jen? Jensen? Hey, come on man, wake up.”

Something stung across Jensen’s face and he twitched instinctively away from it. God. He was really _over_ blacking out and waking up to someone calling his name. Especially when that someone wasn’t Jared and this someone, definitely wasn’t.

The sting was back in the form of Owen’s hand slapping across his cheek and Jensen shoved up, sitting on the cold hard bed and shifting away from his ex. “What the fuck is going on, Owen?” Jensen’s eyes snapped around the dark, dank room he was in and his eyes grew even wider. “Where the hell are we?”

Owen sighed wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose as if he didn’t have time for Jensen’s freak out. It was enough to fill Jensen with the intense urge to leap off the stiff bed and strangle his ex. Only, that wouldn’t get him anywhere. “Please just, calm down, okay Jensen? I don’t need your mini meltdown right now.”

“You don’t _need_ \- what- oh _fuck you_ Owen! Do you realize in the last week I’ve had a gun in my face, been shot at, and nearly blown up by a _car_? All because of you! So you better just fucking prepare yourself for any sort of meltdown I have because I’m fairly sure I fucking deserve one.”

Jensen was panting by the time he finished his rant and Owen was just staring, his eyes round and maybe a little scared. It was the first time Jensen thought that maybe Owen really was in over his head. Maybe he’d done something without meaning to and now everyone was paying the consequences for his stupidity. Not that it gave him the right to behave as he was, but still, it at least made the anger in Jensen fizzle out a bit.

“I’m really sorry,” Owen said quietly and sat back on the floor – Jensen wasn’t touching that damn floor; it looked like the type of place diseases came to have orgies and make millions of new diseases. “I thought it’d be okay. You know, I thought I’d just, leave it with you, and they wouldn’t know. I _thought_ you’d be safe.”

A whole lot of things were adding up in Jensen’s mind. Which, maybe he should be used to that because it wasn’t tending to be the norm of late but he was also very irritated by it. So he huffed out a breath and pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping one arm around them and using his free hand to shove up his glasses. “Well, clearly you were wrong. What did you leave with me? Why do these people want me so badly?”

Guilt flashed across Owen’s features – Jensen knew that expression, he’d seen it a lot over the years – and the man ducked his head and rubbed fingers through his hair. “They think you have something really valuable to them. This zip drive with all these access codes to a bank … look it’s really confusing and I don’t have time to explain it all but let’s just say the information on there is worth nearly half a billion dollars and they think you have it.”

Jensen was pretty sure he’d seen this movie on TV not too long ago. Only, this wasn’t a movie and his entire life was in fucking danger because, apparently, Owen had done something to make these people think he was involved. Forget the fizzled anger; it was back in full force. “Well, I don’t. Tell them I don’t have it and make them let me go! I- I wasn’t even supposed to be outside, I told Jared I’d stay inside.”

“Jared?” Owen looked up this time, his brows lifting high on his forehead. “Who’s that?”

“Oh … well he’s this guy and we’re- Owen! Fucking stop. I do _not_ owe you an explanation. Except to say Jared is a cop and he’s looking for you and he’s also keeping me safe because people keep trying to kill me _because_ you’re a fucking douche. Now will you please tell these people I don’t have their zip whatever?” Jensen was frankly quite tired of trying to reason with this madman.

After this, assuming Jensen survived, he was going on a vacation. To Florida, and the new _Harry Potter_ theme park. Hopefully Jared would come along.

Owen’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he dropped his gaze again, looking away sheepishly. Realization hit Jensen about the time Owen confirmed what he was worried was true. “Well see … you kind of do.”

The door crashed open with a bang loud enough a rather unmanly squeak fell from Jensen as he clambered back on the bed. Big, bald, and beefy was back – scowl still in place – and this time he was flanked on either side by two men who looked just as large and terrifying. They filled the room, giving out waves of threatening vibes and Jensen’s mind instantly provided the image of Harry facing down the Dementors.

Maybe, Jensen couldn’t handle tough situations so much. He’d never really need to know _how_ to before all of this started.

“Where the fuck is it?” Big beefy growled, crossing the room and literally lifting Jensen from the bed by his shirt collar.

It was a little hard to breathe and Jensen’s feet weren’t even touching the ground. There was the good man handling and then there was this. Which was downright fucking terrifying. “W-where is, is what?” Jensen gasped out, legs swinging as he tried to get some grips on this entire crazy situation.

The man grunted – clearly irritated with Jensen’s ignorance – and shook him a couple of times as if that would get the answer to tumble out of him. When it didn’t work he tossed Jensen effortlessly back onto the bed and reached down to snag Owen, digging fingers into his hair and lifting him clear off the ground.

Owen let out a shriek of his own but didn’t fight as much as Jensen thought he would. That was about the time Jensen realized big beefy was pressing a gun to Owen’s temple and smirking. “Don’t know why you’re protecting this dipshit but I’ma give you to the count of five to tell me where it _is_ before I blow his brains out right here in front of you.”

Panic shot through Jensen in a flash and he scrambled up on the bed, eyes darting between the crazy man – who was quite clearly not joking around – and Owen. “But I don’t-”

“One.”

“Now just, hold on a second.” Jensen held up a hand, wracking his mind to try and come up with a way to rationalize things. This was fucking insane. Shit like this did _not_ happen in the real world.

“Two.”

“Oh Merlin,” Jensen gasped, panting now as he tried to figure out if Owen was telling him something through his wide eyed panic.

“Three.”

“Okay, okay, wait.” Jensen forced himself to stand on the grimy floor – where the hell had his shoes gone anyway? Bad time for that thought. _Jensen, focus._ “I … if I tell you, where it is, you’ll let him go? Let us both go?”

Big beefy lowered Owen just a little but kept the gun against his temple, eyeing Jensen suspiciously. “Where what is?”

Jensen had to bite back a huff of annoyance. Clearly this man must be an idiot. “The zip drive.”

Oh. Apparently that had been a test to see if Jensen really knew what he was talking about. Big beefy was nothing but alert now, his two counterparts shuffling closer, eager eyes but permanent scowls. “Tell me where it is and you can both go.”

For some reason Jensen had a pretty good feeling it wouldn’t be that simple. It never seemed to be in books or movies or on TV. But what option did he really have? It wasn’t like he could just stand there and watch Owen get killed, he might currently _loath_ the guy but he didn’t want him dead. “I- I have it. But not with me. It’s hidden. I have to take you to it.”

It was as much of an answer as Jensen could give because he had no idea where the zip drive was. Actually, he wasn’t entirely sure he even knew _what_ a zip drive was. They never had things like that in _Harry Potter_.

“Wait here,” Big beefy growled and tossed Owen towards him, causing them both to stumble and fall back onto the mattress as the three men turned and left the room.

The door clattered shut again and Jensen shoved Owen off him, scooting across the mattress and tugging off his glasses to rub them furiously on his shirt. His heart was still racing, his hands were shaking, and beside him Owen was panting. “Man, thought I was a goner. Um … thanks Jen.”

“Thanks?” Jensen repeated quietly, turning wide eyes to Owen and shoving his glasses back on. He reached out a moment later and smacked Owen hard on the back of his head. “You are the stupidest person alive and I can’t believe you’ve roped me into all this. Now tell me where the hell that damn drive thing is so when they come back and take me there I can hopefully get us out of this mess.”

“I hid it. At your place,” Owen mumbled, appropriately sheepish as he ran fingers through his tangled hair. “In that, golden ball thing you have, on your bookshelf.”

Jensen frowned for a beat then sighed. Owen never paid enough attention to things before, Jensen was pretty sure he’d explained that _golden ball_ thing a dozen times over the course of their relationship. “You mean the snitch? But the horcrux locket was in there.”

“Yeah well, obviously this _Jared_ guy must be keeping you pretty busy, otherwise you would have noticed the locket was in the hall table drawer instead.” There was something definitely bitter about Owen’s tone and Jensen couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

“You do _not_ get to be jealous of Jared, Owen. You and I have been over for a long time now, even before we were officially over. So stop being a Malfoy.” Jensen folded his arms across his chest; a little unnerved that the very thing these people were looking for – had nearly killed him for – was right under his nose the entire time.

When he looked back up Owen was watching him and that unreadable expression was a little unnerving. “You always did that. Comparing people or situations to things from books or whatever, like we’re all just supposed to know what it means. It’s … weird.”

“I’m not really looking for your approval,” Jensen said flatly and turned away, clenching his jaw. He didn’t like being called out on things like that. Where did Owen get off anyway? It wasn’t like it was really his place to correct Jensen any longer. “Why did you even date me if you think I’m so weird?”

“Because you’re also gorgeous?” Owen said like he was also saying _duh_ , giving Jensen the same look. “Plus, you know, you’re good in bed.”

If any part of Jensen was still hung up on this man – which, it really wasn’t – these words would definitely have been enough to make that go away. Jensen was annoyed enough he kind of wanted to call big beefy and his Crabbe and Goyle henchmen back in here just to teach Owen a lesson.

As it turned out, he didn’t have to. Because the door was opening again a moment later and the three men strode in, big beefy tossing Jensen’s shoes toward him. “Alright. We’re taking you to your place.” His gun was out and waving toward Owen again as he continued. “Once we have the drive you and that idiot can go but we’re keeping him here, just to be safe.”

That was just fine with Jensen. Kind of. He really didn’t want him dead, after all.

  


Jensen didn’t need the thick fingers digging into his arm to guide him out of the building and to the waiting dark SUV. But he didn’t pull away because that seemed like a really stupid idea. Like running. They were in some back alley of a large warehouse and Jensen maybe stood a chance of making it halfway toward the nearest dumpster before they caught up to him.

Or shot him in the back. So yeah, running, not wise.

“You best not be lying to us,” one of the gorilla-esque henchmen growled over Jensen’s shoulder, sending the unpleasant smell of garlic and onion out with the words.

It definitely didn’t help the queasy churn of Jensen’s stomach. He had no idea how long he’d been missing – if Jared had discovered he’d been taken yet – and all he could really hope was that some cops would be watching his place or something. It seemed like a long shot even with Jensen’s usually pretty high optimism.

Something loud was suddenly popping and whizzing past Jensen’s head and well, this was the second time in not as many weeks that this had happened to him. Because, why _shouldn’t_ he be shot at on top of everything else that was happening to him at the moment? Jensen might as well accept the fact that his life would never be normal again and if he lived through this day it was going to be a damn miracle of Middle Earth proportions.

And then, Jared’s voice was echoing through the back alley space. “Let him go Francis, we can still end this peacefully.”

And. What? Francis? He’d been kidnapped by a bald, huge, muscular dude named _Francis_? That sure went a long way to knocking the man’s intimidation factor down to nil. It was like Harry learning Voldemort’s name was actually Tom Riddle, it made the man not nearly as freaky and maybe returned some of the feeling to Jensen’s previously threatening to give out knees.

Apparently, the bald scowling man – previously big beefy, now _Francis_ \- did not like being addressed by his real name. Jensen didn’t blame him but he also really didn’t want to know his moniker either. It was probably something like Shark Tooth or Cue Ball. What? Jensen’s creativity didn’t extend outside the kitchen much.

“That you Detective P?” Francis called out with a clearly forced laugh. “Saw you with this freak the other day; didn’t realize how important he is to ya. Pretty stupid to risk coming here alone don’t ya think?”

Something cold and hard pressed against Jensen’s temple and he let out a terrified little squeak as he realized what it was. Why did people have such a _thing_ for guns and sticking them in Jensen’s face? If he managed to survive this he was totally signing some petition about gun control or something like that.

“Who says I’m alone?” Jared called back and there was definitely a smirk to his words.

“What does-” Before Francis could finish his sure to be ridiculous question – what does that mean, really? – another whizz pop explosion echoed out and the Goyle henchmen dropped to the ground with a pained moan, clutching his arm.

“Bloody hell,” Jensen gasped, stumbling back as Francis tugged his arm. He’d never seen anyone get shot before. He could smell the gun powder and blood and the collapsed guy on the ground kept making the most pitiful noises.

They were drowned out a moment later though when the gun still too close to Jensen’s head went off. Francis and the uninjured sidekick were firing back, Jared and whoever was with him returned the shots. Somehow Jensen had ended up in the middle of a shootout. And he’d really thought things couldn’t get more extreme after the whole ‘being kidnapped with chloroform’ thing.

“Jensen? You okay?” Jared’s call rose above the gun shots as the echoing trailed off around them.

Jensen tried to peek out from the place Francis had dragged him behind the SUV. He had no idea where Jared was hiding but he suddenly wished the man really did have the power to apparate. “I’m-”

“Shut up,” Francis hissed, digging an elbow hard into Jensen’s side.

Sometime during the shootout the other sidekick had taken a bullet to the shoulder so now both men were slumped together on the pavement, whining and moaning about the pain they were in. Maybe Jensen could successfully make an escape now. It wasn’t like Francis would chase after him while cops were watching his every move after all.

“Hey, _dipshit_ , let him go.” Owen’s voice was surprisingly strong behind them and Jensen slowly turned, eyeing the gun in Owen’s hand a little nervously. He had a really bad feeling about the way this was going to play out.

“Jesus, you really are an idiot.” Francis laughed darkly and stood, taking a step toward Owen and away from Jensen when Owen slid a foot back. “We might actually have let him go after we got the drive but clearly that’s not an option any longer.”

“You don’t actually think you’re getting out of here do you?” Owen arched an eyebrow and gave Francis a _and you think I’m an idiot_ look. Jensen thought it was either ridiculously reckless or really ballsy of Owen. Maybe both.

“You know what? I’m about done dealing with you jackass. Clearly we don’t need you anymore, not when we’ve got pretty boy over here?” Francis growled, head jerking back toward Jensen but his gaze never wavered. Owen stepped back again and big beefy moved once more forward, no longer hidden by the back of the SUV.

Two shots fired in quick succession. Jensen let out a way too feminine scream as blood sprayed across him from the bullet that sailed cleanly through Francis’ skull. The beefed up man dropped to the pavement with a loud thud and Jensen had a sudden clear view of Owen and the blood seeping across his t-shirt.

It took Jensen a moment to realize that, unlike the blood staining his own clothing, that dark red belonged to Owen. Apparently, the first shot Jensen had heard had come from Francis’ gun moments before he’d been taken down.

The smirk on Owen’s lips wavered and his hand lifted, pressing against the sticky substance rapidly turning his shirt from light blue to dark crimson. He pulled his hand back and stared down at the blood on his fingers then lifted his gaze to Jensen, eyes wide and watering. “Shit.”

“Owen,” Jensen gasped and lurched up to his feet, making it to Owen’s side just as the man’s knees gave out.

People had exploded into movement all around them, coming out of hiding spots, and Jensen could vaguely heart shouts and orders but everything felt like it was fading out into the background. His heart was thudding loud in his ears and Jensen gasped again, grabbing Owen’s hand tight in his, the man’s body sliding into his lap.

“Might have … deserved this,” Owen breathed out the words with half a smile, blinking slowly up at Jensen and squeezing his hand.

Jensen sucked in a breath thick with the scent of blood and the speed of everything caught up to him again. He fumbled with Owen’s shirt, pressing it hard against the bullet wound on his chest, trying to get the blood to stop oozing out. “You’re fine. You’re gonna be just fine, Owen. God. Why- why did you have to do something so stupid?” Jensen pulled in another sharp breath, realizing for the first time that there were tears burning down his cheeks.

“Guess … I’m pretty good at being stupid.” Owen smiled weakly at Jensen, lifting a hand to brush the tears from his cheeks. “Let you go, was pretty dumb. Just … don’t change, okay? Always stay this weird.”

“Jensen,” Jared’s voice was soft, comforting behind him but Jensen’s breath still caught on a sob. “Come on, let the paramedics help him.”

He couldn’t really accept the idea of Owen dying in his arms and he blinked up at the paramedic kneeling down beside him reaching out for Owen. He allowed Jared to pull him back, tug him to his feet, but he kept his eyes down on his ex. “Don’t be stupid again Owen. Don’t die. That’s … just, don’t.”

“Nah, won’t die,” Owen coughed around the words, his eyes closing for a long moment before he blinked them open again. “Gotta stick around, just to annoy you.”

Jensen huffed a laugh out through another sob and finally turned from Owen, falling against Jared’s chest in relief. Now that everything was _done_ he felt a little like his mind was about to explode from way too much overload. There was a pretty good chance that Jensen was going to be suffering some severe mental breakdown now that he knew it was actually safe enough to.

“You’re okay,” Jared said softly, stroking fingers through Jensen’s hair. His arms around him tightened for a moment and he growled softly. “Never should have let you go alone. So _stupid_. God.”

Surprise fluttered through Jensen and he pulled back slightly, tilting up toward Jared. “Hey, it’s not your fault, not even close. I- I’m the stupid one. I went out back even though you told me to keep the door locked; they were just waiting for me. Good thing your magic powers helped you find me so quickly.”

“It’s been almost three hours.” Jared frowned, sweeping his fingers along Jensen’s jaw. “Melodie got worried when you took so long with the trash, she came out back just in time to see them putting you in the SUV, was able to snap a picture of the license plate. Took way too long to track it down but, once I saw the picture I knew … Francis and I have a history.”

Jensen’s face scrunched up, the name reminding him all too easily of the blood on his clothes and poor Owen strapped into a gurney and being wheeled away. He glanced over his shoulder, watching as the paramedics lifted Owen into the back of the ambulance. The man seemed to be moving, talking, that had to be a good sign.

“You um, you still care for him.” There was no question behind Jared’s words and he stepped back after a moment, clearing his throat and sliding his hands into his pockets.

“Well yeah. Don’t they say you never really stop loving your first?” A hint of a smile played across Jensen’s lips as he turned from the ambulance and back to Jared. It took him a few moments to realize why Jared looked so crestfallen. Sometimes Jensen was a bit of a social idiot, but he didn’t need to have this spelled out for him and he stepped quickly forward, laying a hand on Jared’s arm. “I don’t love him now though. Trust me, I have absolutely _no_ interest in getting back together with Owen. I’ve uh, kinda got my eye on this other guy.”

Jared held his gaze, that nervous smile flickering on and off his lips. “Yeah? Anyone I might know?” Now his grin was full fledged once more, a brilliant grin, his hands tugging from his pockets and lifting to slide down Jensen’s arms.

“You might have heard of him,” Jensen murmured. It seemed like a pretty safe time to finally allow himself to _believe_ this was over. “Wanna take me home? I could tell you all about it.”

Jared took his hand and dipped down to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “Gotta take you to the station first, make sure you’re okay and hear your side of the story. Then I promise to get you home safely. Sound fair?”

Truthfully, Jensen just wanted to go home, but he didn’t really feel like fighting the issue. So he simply smiled at Jared and nodded.

  


“So, you have a younger sister and an older brother,” Jensen stated already learned facts as he tugged the keys to his apartment out of his pocket and led the way slowly down the hall. It was already almost nine on what had to be the longest day of Jensen’s entire life.

He’d spent forever at the police station, giving his statement at least five times, then at the hospital to check in on Owen. It had only taken ten minutes for the man to piss him off – by pointing out that Jensen must be having some type of inner seizure about missing working all day and seriously, Jensen was _not_ that heartless. He could handle a day of missing work, considering the extreme circumstances.

But he wasn’t planning on making a return visit to check on Owen in the hospital. The Doctor had insisted he would be okay and that was enough for Jensen, he was ready to once more put his ex in his past and get on to this _new_ thing.

Mainly, Jared. Who had insisted on taking him to dinner then driving him home, and also apparently walking him to the door. They’d actually managed to have something closer to a normal conversation as they ate – wherein Jared told him about his life outside of being a cop and Jensen spent too much time explaining why _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ was the worst movie to book in comparison due to the lack of details explained.

Thankfully, Jared seemed only fondly amused by Jensen’s passion on the subject and he was still holding Jensen’s hand, so that had to be a sign he remained interested. Jensen had long since learned if someone could last through a first date with him – by choice, since Jared had been previously _required_ to stick around – there was a pretty good chance they had a shot.

“Yeah, same as you, ironically. Being the middle kid is such a pain, right?” Jared laughed softly, this thumb sliding over the top of Jensen’s hand.

Which was pretty damn distracting truthfully and Jensen fumbled with the key for a moment before managing to slip it into the lock, hip-checking the door open. “It really is. Honestly, I think that’s why I got so much into reading when-”

As it had happened quite a few times before, Jared cut him off in the middle of his sentence with a hard, deep kiss. They fumbled into the dark apartment, Jensen’s keys clattering down to the floor as his arms lifted to wrap around Jared’s shoulders and drag him closer. The door connected solid against Jensen’s back, pulling a deep moan from him as he arched up into the heat of Jared’s strong form.

Jared’s mouth tasted like the spice from the pasta he’d had for dinner and the gum he’d chewed on the drive back to Jensen’s place. But there was also that richer, unnamable thing that Jensen already associated with Jared. It was more addictive than the power that radiated from the one ring when Frodo slipped it onto his finger. Yes, this logic completely made sense to Jensen.

Merry and Pippin barking a moment later was finally enough to break the kiss. Jensen was panting, Jared’s fingers curled around his wrist and holding him tightly in place against the oak door. Their eyes met and they shared a shaky smile.

“Guess those dogs want some attention,” Jared murmured, dipping down to brush his nose along Jensen’s. “Should probably say hello.”

“Long as we pick this up,” Jensen whispered, annoyed for the first time that he lived in a place that required him to immediately give attention to his pets. But, he loved them like his own children or something, so he wasn’t about to ignore them. Even if he was pretty sure he was minutes away from getting nice and thoroughly fucked.

Screw what he’d said earlier to Melodie, waiting was completely overrated.

Jared was great with Jensen’s dogs, which went a long way to winning Jensen over. Not that he needed more of a reason, it was pretty safe to say Jensen was _gone_ for Jared. They shared warm smiles, the brush of fingers, bumping elbows as they hooked Merry and Pippin to their leashes and took them outside. They didn’t even have to talk as they waited for the dogs to take care of their business, Jensen was fairly sure anything that needed to be said was silently passing between them each time their eyes met.

By the time they were heading upstairs once more, heat was boiling low in the pit of Jensen’s stomach, simmering to something that was inexplicably making his heart quicken, his steps just a little faster than usual. Maybe it was the way Jared’s gaze was darkening, or the hint of a smile on his lips, or the way his fingertips slid to brush just under Jensen’s shirt – sending a ripple of gooseflesh across Jensen’s skin.

“Jared?” Jensen didn’t mean the name to sound quite as breathy as it did when they finally stepped back into his place.

He watched as Jared dipped down to unhook each leash, his fingers ruffling through the thick coats of fur. When Jensen didn’t continue right away, Jared looked up at him, that warm little secretive smile still on his lips. “Yeah?”

“Do you want … to stay over?” Jensen usually wasn’t so nervous about this kind of thing. And well, it was a little silly, Jared had stayed the last two nights and they’d already fooled around. But Jensen wasn’t completely sure he knew what was going to happen with them, on the whole relationship front, so being nervous was completely his prerogative.

Jared slowly stood, his gaze dragging up Jensen’s body from foot to head with enough purpose to have Jensen flushing. “Do you want me to stay?” Jared’s voice was definitely deeper and he stepped toward Jensen, curling fingers slowly over his hip.

The air hitched in Jensen’s chest and he wet his lips slowly, gaze lifting up toward Jared. No one had ever affected him quite the way Jared seemed to be able to. Jensen fleetingly wondered if this was how Aragorn felt when he spent time in the presence of Arwen.

But that was ridiculous. Jared wasn’t an elf after all.

“Yes,” he whispered, swaying into the heat of Jared’s body out of his control.

They exploded into movement after that, as if they’d never been interrupted on a doggy care interlude. Jared tugged him close as he dipped in for another of those deep, hard, soul shaking kisses. Jensen stumbled with the pull tug of Jared dragging him down the hallway.

Jensen’s shoulder hit the door frame as they rounded the corner into his room but he only vaguely registered the pain. It was far easier to be distracted by Jared’s lips sliding along his neck, his fingers dancing up under Jensen’s shirt and along his chest. Jensen’s head fell back with a low moan, his feet shifting so he could toe out of his shoes and socks.

Jared pulled back enough to tug the shirt off over Jensen’s head, reaching behind him to flick the light on. At Jensen’s questioning look, Jared smiled and shrugged. “You’re so pretty, I wanna see all your expressions the first time I fuck you.”

“Bloody hell,” Jensen nearly gasped, Jared’s words tearing through him with a blinding flash of pleasure that made his knees feel weak.

“Like that. God, the way you flush, how swollen your lips are, might just be the hottest guy I’ve ever seen.” Jared was speaking against Jensen’s ear, his fingers slip sliding slowly down to the top of Jensen’s jeans.

Jensen wasn’t really coherent enough to protest but he was pretty sure that flush Jared was talking about got just a little brighter. A shudder slid up his shoulders when Jared flicked the button free on his jeans. “Jared,” he whispered, realizing with a start that he kind of wasn’t doing anything; he should be touching Jared or something. Right now he was just like a brain dead lust orc. Just not as disgusting or evil.

Maybe orc was the wrong character association but Jensen’s brain wasn’t exactly functioning at full processing levels.

“Jen?” Jared gasped as their lips broke from another kiss. He smiled like maybe he’d said Jensen’s name more than once more and Jensen hummed softly, giving him a dazed smile in return. “You got stuff?”

“Yeah,” Jensen murmured, finally grasping the button of the row of buttons on Jared’s shirt and working his way up them with fumbling hands.

Their lips came together again as Jensen managed to shove Jared out of his shirt and shove the material to the floor. Their legs bumped into the edge of the bed and Jared stepped away, his eyes locked on Jensen as he reached out and tugged the zipper on Jensen’s jeans, shoving hard at the denim a moment later.

The relief of pressure holding over his cock was enough to have Jensen moaning softly and he lifted a still shaking hand to pull his glasses off. Sure, Jared was a bit blurry because of it but every time they bumped into the frames Jensen felt all embarrassed so yeah. “You um, do this a lot?”

Jared laughed softly and traced a thumb over Jensen’s hip bone, eyes lingering over the burning slow touch. “Have sex with smokin’ hot guys? No, not so much.”

“Well, sex in general?” Jensen couldn’t imagine Jared not getting a lot of offers. Hell, if he were completely honest, he was ready to throw himself at Jared’s cock the very moment he saw him.

Jared’s gaze lifted and his smile softened, thumb tucking to hook under Jensen’s boxers. “I’ve had sex. Been a while, I prefer to be _with_ someone. One night stands aren’t really my thing.”

There was definitely the possibility that Jared was made for Jensen. Forged from the fires and all that jazz. Jensen couldn’t help grinning even as his heart fluttered with nerves, Jared’s fingers lifting the elastic and pulling up. Jared had already seen him naked, being nervous was crazy, but nothing had ever suggested Jensen was sane. “Yeah me too,” he added after a minute, letting his own hand drop to rest on Jared’s waistline.

“So, it’s been a while for you?” Jared pushed at the cotton of Jensen’s boxers and the material dropped to the floor with a rush of cool air that had Jensen sucking in a breath.

“Since Owen, well, since a few months before Owen and I broke up. We hit some rough patches before the end and I … you probably don’t care about that at all.” Jensen laughed weakly and tugged at the fly on Jared’s slacks, trying to distract from the epic _fail_ of him discussing his break up with his ex during sex.

Thankfully, because Jared was as awesome as was his default apparently, he just kept that warm smile in place and slid the back of his fingers down Jensen’s jaw. “I have this gut feeling, cops get them sometimes, you know?”

“Uh huh.” Jensen nodded slowly and worked the buttons free on Jared’s slacks, pulling the zipper down a beat later. When Jared didn’t continue he forced his gaze up to dark hazel eyes and smiled. “And what is your gut feeling telling you?”

“That you and me.” Jared leaned down and captured Jensen’s lower lip between his teeth, slowly dragging out. His hips twisted and the fabric slid in Jensen’s fingers, slacks and briefs falling to join Jensen’s discarded clothing on the floor. When Jared’s lips pressed against his ear lobe their bodies slid together, their cocks coming together in a brief pass, and Jensen sucked in a shaky breath. “We’re gonna be _so_ good together.”

Jensen’s eyes fluttered closed and he swayed into Jared, coming dangerously close to falling before the man wrapped a strong arm around him and drew him the rest of the way back onto the bed. They tumbled over the dark blanket, their lips meeting as they tangled together and their skin crash collided. The heat was overwhelming and Jensen moaned, letting his fingers dig up into Jared’s hair because he loved the soft silky feel against his skin.

“Where?” Jared gasped some time later, breaking the kiss enough to roll Jensen flat onto his back, falling between his spread legs.

Jensen blinked a few times and ran a tongue over his plump swollen lips. They were tingling enough to make Jensen squirm from the lingering feeling swimming through him. His mind was almost painfully slow in providing an answer as to what Jared wanted but – as his lover just continued to fondly smile down at him – the red on his cheeks radiated heat with the realization. “Oh um, drawer.”

“Drawer.” Jared nodded and reached out, tugging at the nightstand and fumbling inside for the bottle of lube and condom. “Seems like a pretty logical place for it. Drawer. I mean, even if you haven’t had sex for a while, I guess you wouldn’t ever really know and all and… I’m babbling.”

Jensen’s eyes had increasingly widened during Jared’s explosion of words and now he couldn’t help grinning, tucking hair behind Jared’s ear even though it fell forward again within moments. “You were. It was adorable.”

Groaning, Jared dropped half on top of him and mouthed along Jensen’s neck, shifting slightly to the side. “I babble when I get nervous.”

“You’re nervous?” Jensen gaped, not entirely sure he could comprehend Jared being nervous about this entire thing. What the hell did Jared have to be nervous about? “But … why?”

“Jensen,” Jared huffed and pulled back to meet his eyes, falling to Jensen’s side and digging a hand up through his hair. “Seriously? Look at you. I mean, it’s not even just that. Yeah you’re fucking hot but you’re also probably the sweetest guy I’ve ever met. You care so deeply about people who probably don’t even deserve it, like Owen. You’re funny and you make me feel all warm and just … amazing. I don’t want to fuck things up with you by being bad at this. Especially not when I feel like we really have the chance to be something truly amazing.”

All Jensen could really do was stare because … what? Jared thought all of that about _him_? That was, insane. Jensen didn’t deserve any of it really. But he couldn’t really deny it either because he wasn’t all that certain he could speak. Instead he moved forward, crushing his lips hard against Jared’s and nearly climbing up onto his lap.

Jared moaned into the kiss and slid his arms tight around Jensen, pulling him over his body and thrusting up as their cocks brushed together. Jensen wasn’t sure if the speed his heart was racing was because of Jared’s burning skin against his or because of the words that were kind of playing in a loop through his mind.

Time was nothing to Jensen, who was quite content getting lost in the sweep of Jared’s tongue, the roll of their bodies, and then Jared’s fingers ghosting down to rub slow circles over his hole. Jensen gasped, shoulders tensing, bracing himself for the hard shove of fingers up into him. But it wasn’t that way with Jared. He teased in with the slow push of his finger, edging up into muscle and continuing to kiss Jensen with that deep, gentle caress.

No matter how much Jensen waited for the action to turn rough and swift – Owen really _was_ sloppy with his preparations – Jared’s pace never changed. By the time he had three fingers inside Jensen, slowly spreading and twisting in deep plunging circles, Jensen was so turned on he couldn’t see straight. He also couldn’t catch his breath, likely because Jared seemed content to never pull his lips from Jensen’s, no matter how much either of them might need oxygen.

Finally it simply became too much, Jensen needed air, but he needed Jared in him a whole lot more. He tore back from the kiss with a ragged moan, nails scrapping along the blanket, eyes fluttering open and closed as he tried to gain some equilibrium. “Jared, god, I,” Jensen gasped and rolled his hips down onto the questing fingers, jerking hard back up with the smooth tips glided over his prostate.

Jared expertly rode out the wave of his body, his own moan echoing over Jensen’s, his lips mapping along his jaw and neck, never lifting from his skin. Clearly, Jared was some type of like a new flavor of sugar, a kind Jensen was already so far beyond addicted to his sweet tooth would never get enough.

“Please,” Jensen groaned and curled his fingers over Jared’s shoulder, squeezing hard. “Need, need you in me. Please, Jared. _God_.”

“Fuck,” Jared moaned again and pulled his fingers quickly free, flipping over to fall between Jensen’s spread legs once more and reaching out for the condom.

There were a few minutes of fumbling as Jared tore at the package and slid the latex on. Jensen couldn’t resist sitting up and helping to slick lube over Jared’s hard throbbing flesh, his heart stutter stopping when Jared moaned his name and thrust up into the heat of his hand.

Then Jared was shoving him back onto the bed and gathering his legs up, pulling them up over his shoulders and bending Jensen’s body in a way that should have been uncomfortable but was really just fucking hot. Jensen sucked in a breath and held it, his eyes forced open to watch Jared’s face as his body moved forward and the head of his cock pressed against his loosened muscles.

There was the burn Jensen had been waiting for, Jared stretching and filling him as he slowly thrust all the way in, not stopping until he bottomed out. But it wasn’t really painful – in fact, after all the crazy shit Jensen had been through the past few days, it was oddly life assuring. Like having that pulsing heat in him was a steady reminder that he was alive, he’d made it through the madness, and now he got the best sort of prize on the other side.

This must have been how Frodo felt when he finally got rid of the ring and got to go back to the Shire.

Any other thoughts Jensen might have had flew from his mind the moment Jared moved. The slow drag of thick burning heat was enough to drag another deep moan from Jensen. His hands moved ceaselessly over Jared, through his hair, across his shoulders, down his arms, anywhere he could reach because not touching was not an option. Jared’s face was picture perfect bliss, his head tipped back and his lips parted in a kiss swollen _O_ that had a smile flickering across Jensen’s lips.

“More,” Jensen gasped after a handful of too slow thrusts, Jared’s hips gradually pulling back and sinking back in. Jared’s eyes snapped open, their gazes locked, and Jensen rocked his hips hard up to meet Jared’s downward glide. “Fuck me, Jared.”

A low growl fell from Jared and that was apparently all the persuading his lover needed. The man drew back and slammed his hips hard enough down into Jensen their bodies slapped loudly together. He didn’t hesitate in pulling out again, driving down just as hard, and Jensen keened as his body arched up into the rapidly increasing thrusts.

His hands dropped to the bed because he could no longer keep a grasp on Jared, fingers curling into the blankets instead, eyes clenching shut as pleasure washed over him in constant swirling waves. Once more Jensen couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t get his heart to stop thudding in his ears, and he may have moaned words – Jared’s name, more Elvish, spells from Harry Potter – but he could hardly make them out around the steady stream of rushed air leaving his lips.

Jared’s fingers dug hard into his thighs, his grip steady as his bruising thrusts continued the most brilliant of assaults down into Jensen. His own breath was ragged and hoarse, Jensen’s name a half mumble every half a dozen thrusts. There was sweat beading across both their skin, Jensen could feel it sliding across his brow, then the shift of his hips brought Jared’s cock slamming into that sensitive bundle of nerves once more and Jensen lost it.

Coming untouched wasn’t something Jensen was really known for but barely a dozen thrusts later – each nailing into that spot with force enough to have him seeing stars – and Jensen’s hips jerked hard up off the mattress. Sticky white come splashed across his chest, barely registering through the lust haze that was Jensen’s mind, and Jared’s pace reached a nearly frantic level.

When Jared toppled over his own edge his head fell back once more, the noise falling from his lips a mixture of Jensen’s name, a growl, and a deep moan. It was unlike anything Jensen had ever heard before but he couldn’t wait to hear it again and again and again.

In fact, there was the very real possibility that Jensen would actually call in tomorrow. Melodie could handle things without him and after _everything_ lately? Jensen totally deserved a day off.

“God, that was amazing,” Jared murmured as he gently pulled from Jensen, tying off the condom and tossing it into the trash by the nightstand. He collapsed beside Jensen on the bed, arm falling across his middle. “You good?”

“Superb,” Jensen whispered, stilling struggling to catch his breath.

This was going to be one of those nights he always wanted to remember. The kind he’d store away and whenever he saw his Remembrall on the shelf, he’d think about how amazing Jared was. Thinking about the shelf where he kept his collectables, he couldn’t stop his mind from flashing to earlier that day.

Sitting up, Jensen blinked a few times then clambered off the bed, heading swiftly out of the room and to his shelf in the living room. He heard Jared call his name – talk about bad timing to remember this whole thing – but didn’t stop. Grabbing the snitch from the shelf, Jensen turned and nearly ran back into the bedroom – mainly to avoid Merry and Pippin getting anywhere _near_ his naked body.

Jensen jumped onto the bed, giving Jared a quick smile – unsurprisingly his lover looked a little freaked out – Jensen popped open the snitch and stared down at the zip drive there. He was honestly a little surprised Owen hadn’t been lying.

“Is that…”

“Yeah. What they were looking for.” Jensen swallowed and looked up at Jared, holding out the drive a moment later. “I think you should take that. I really, _really_ want nothing more to do with it.”

Jared grinned and took the zip drive, rolling over to place it on the nightstand. When he rolled back he snagged Jensen and tugged him close, placing a soft kiss to his lips. “Don’t worry Jen, I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you ever again.”

It really wasn’t all that hard to believe.

 **Epilogue**

“Come _on_ Jared, we’re gonna be late!” Jensen called to the bathroom door then huffed, turning back to the mirror to straighten his tie.

He hated being late. Especially to something so very _important_. Of course, it was just his luck that he’d land himself a sexy ass Detective boyfriend that happened to be a bit of a _preener_.

“Jen, the movie doesn’t start until 12:01. It’s 9:30.” Jared sounded less than impressed as he tugged the bathroom door open and headed across the bedroom. In the mirror, Jensen watched as Jared froze and slowly turned to him. “What … are you wearing?”

Unsurprisingly, a deep flush crawled across Jensen’s face. Yeah, he’d maybe left this part out when he’d asked Jared if he would come with him to the opening night of _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two_. But, come on, it was the _last_ movie, the very _last_ of all the Harry Potter things. No more books, no more movies, how could Jensen possibly pass up on the opportunity to dress up one more time?

“It’s an uh, it’s … you know, the Gryffindor uniform.” Jensen smoothed his hand down the front of his vest then shrugged his shoulder, working the thick black robe further up his body. Jared just continued to stare and Jensen swallowed thickly.

Okay. Over the last few months he’d maybe tested Jared a fair bit on the whole ‘dating an extreme geek baker’. In some ways, Jared really lucked out, because he’d officially because Jensen’s taste tester for all new recipes – and that was mostly a good thing. In other ways though … well, Jared was maybe dating a bit of a freak.

Just when Jensen was pretty sure Jared was going to completely lose it – and maybe break up with him, which was really a pity because Jensen was kind of fucking in love with him – he suddenly found himself pinned up against the wall. Jared’s eyes were darkened with a familiar shade of lust and his cheeks were pinking, tongue dragging slowly over his lip.

“Jared?” Jensen whispered, not sure if he was more turned on or scared at the moment. Jared’s strength was sometimes a little shocking. In a good way.

“I’m gonna take you to this movie,” Jared murmured and dipped down, his lips running along Jensen’s jaw. “Gonna stand in line with you for more than an hour, gonna hold your hand when you cry I’m sure. But after? I’m gonna take that Gryffindor tie, bind your hands to the headboard, and fuck you in your uniform. Okay?”

Jared stepped away and smirked down at Jensen before turning, heading out of the room to get his wallet and shoes.

Jensen slumped back against the door, his breath coming in ragged pants. He was so hard his pants were nearly painful and no matter how many times he blinked, the stars in his eyes wouldn’t fade away. “ _Merlin’s beard_.”

“Jen! Come on! You don’t want to miss out on the line do you?” Jared called out with a laugh that told Jensen he knew _exactly_ what the issue was.

Alright. Jensen was maybe the luckiest non-wizard, extra geeky, awesome baker ever.

The End


End file.
